• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.563-573
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• 2024

In this study, various countermeasures used to mitigate tunnel deformations due to nearby multi-propped basement excavation in soft clay are explored by three-dimensional numerical analyses. Field measurements are used to calibrate the numerical model and model parameters. Since concrete slabs can constrain soil and retaining wall movements, tunnel movements reach the maximum value when soils are excavated to the formation level of basement. Deformation shapes of an existing tunnel due to adjacent basement excavation are greatly affected by relative position between tunnel and basement. When the tunnel is located above or far below the formation level of basement, it elongates downward-toward or upward-toward the basement, respectively. It is found that tunnel movements concentrate in a triangular zone with a width of 2 H_e (i.e., final excavation depth) and a depth of 1 D (i.e., tunnel diameter) above or 1 D below the formation level of basement. By increasing retaining wall thickness from 0.4 m to 0.9 m, tunnel movements decrease by up to 56.7%. Moreover, tunnel movements are reduced by up to 80.7% and 61.3%, respectively, when the entire depth and width of soil within basement are reinforced. Installation of isolation wall can greatly reduce tunnel movements due to adjacent basement excavation, especially for tunnel with a shallow burial depth. The effectiveness of isolation wall to reduce tunnel movement is negligible unless the wall reaches the level of tunnel invert.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.565-577
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• 2022

In this study, a series of three-dimensional numerical parametric study was conducted to investigate deformation mechanisms of an existing box culvert due to an adjacent multi-propped basement excavation in clays. Field measurements from an excavation case history are first used to calibrate a baseline Hardening Soil Small Strain (HS-small) model, which is subsequently adopted for parametric study. Results indicate that the basement-box culvert interaction along the basement centerline can be considered as a plane strain condition when the length of excavation (L) reaches 14 H_e (i.e., final excavation depth). If a plane strain condition (i.e., L/H_e=12.0) is assumed for analyzing the basement-box culvert interaction of a short excavation (i.e., L/H_e=2.0), the maximum settlement and horizontal movement of the box culvert are overestimated significantly by up to 15.7 and 5.1 times, respectively. It is also found that the deformation of box culvert can be greatly affected by the basement excavation if the distance between the box culvert and retaining wall is less than 1.5 H_e. The induced deformation in the box culvert can be dramatically reduced by improving the ground inside the excavation or implementing other precautionary measures. For example, by adding jet grouting columns within the basement and installing an isolation wall behind the retaining structures, the maximum settlements of box culvert are shown to reduce by 37.2% and 13.4%, respectively.