Study on the Mechanical Response Mechanism and Damage Behavior of a Tunnel Lining Structure under Reverse Fault Dislocation

In this paper, the mechanical response mechanism and damage behavior of a railway tunnel lining structure under reverse fault dislocation were studied. The damage behavior of railway tunnel linings under reverse fault dislocation was validated by undertaking laboratory tests and three-dimensional numerical simulations, where Coulomb’s friction was used in the tangential direction of the interface. The failure damage, which increasingly accumulates with displacements, mainly concentrates in fault fracture neighborhoods 0.5 D to 1.5 D (D is the tunnel diameter) within the footwall. The maximum surrounding rock pressure and the maximum longitudinal strain develop in the tunnel near the hanging wall area. The damage begins as longitudinal cracking of the inverted arch. With the increase in dislocations, those cracks develop upward to the arch foot and the waist. Consequently, those oblique cracks separate lining segments, leading to abutment dislocation. The research results provide technical guidance and theoretical support for on-site construction and follow-up research, and they have important application value.

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