Numerical Modeling of Soil and Structure Behavior for Tunneling in Different Types of Soil

This note studies the correlation between surface and tunnel volume loss in various types of dry soil via finite element method. The effect of small strain stiffness, the buoyancy effect of soil, and tunnel overburden depth are considered in the 2D tunneling model. The results show that both surface volume loss ratio and settlement trough width parameter in the empirical solution can be expressed as a linear equation of tunnel volume loss ratio for 1D overburden shallow tunnels. Furthermore, the surface volume loss ratio can be presented as a non-linear polynomial equation of overburden depth and tunnel volume loss ratio in a 3D space, and this equation holds in different types of soil. The ranges of required fitting parameters and upper and lower bounding surfaces are suggested for various types of soil. Knowledge of this correlation between surface and tunnel volume loss is valuable, as it can be employed in practice for preliminary tunnel design in the absence of tunneling induced maximum ground settlement.

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