• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.179-191
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• 2023

To study the influences of tunneling on the earth pressure and ground settlement when the tunnel passes through the adjacent underground retaining structure, 30 two-dimensional model tests were carried out taking into account the ratios of tunnel excavation depth (H) to lateral width (w), excavation width (B), and excavation distance using a custom-made test device and an analogical soil. Tunnel crossing adjacent existing retaining structure (TCE) and tunnel crossing adjacent newly-built retaining structure (TCN) were simulated and the earth pressure variations and ground settlement distribution during excavation were analyzed. For TCE condition, the earth pressure increments, maximum ground settlement and the curvature of the ground settlement curve are negatively related to H/B, but positively related to H/s and H/w. For TCN condition, most trends are consistent with TCE except that the earth pressure increments and the curvature of ground settlement curve are negatively related to H/w. The maximum ground settlement is larger than that observed in tunnel crossing the existing underground structure. This study provides an assessment basis for the design and construction under confined space conditions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.341-358
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• 2024

This paper reports several plane-strain trapdoor tests conducted to investigate the effects of reinforcement on soil arching development under localized surface loading with a loading plate width three times the trapdoor width. An analogical soil composed of aluminum rods with three different diameters was used as the backfill and Kraft paper with two different stiffness values was used as the reinforcement material. Four reinforcement arrangements were investigated: (1) no reinforcement, (2) one low stiffness reinforcement R1, (3) one high stiffness reinforcement R2, and (4) two low stiffness reinforcements R1 with a backfill layer in between. The stiffness of R2 was approximately twice that of R1; therefore, two R1 had approximately the same total stiffness as one R2. Test results indicate that the use of reinforcement minimized soil arching degradation under localized surface loading. Soil arching with reinforcement degraded more at unloading stages as compared to that at loading stages. The use of stiffer reinforcement had the advantages of more effectively minimizing soil arching degradation. As compared to one high stiffness reinforcement layer, two low stiffness reinforcement layers with a backfill layer of certain thickness in between promoted soil arching under localized surface loading. Due to different states of soil arching development with and without reinforcement, an analytical multi-stage soil arching model available in the literature was selected in this study to calculate the average vertical pressures acting on the trapdoor or on the deflected reinforcement section under both the backfill self-weight and localized surface loading.