• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.215-224
• /
• 2019

Excavation of long tunnels by shielded TBMs is a safe, fast, and efficient method of tunneling that mitigates many risks related to ground conditions. However, long-distance tunneling in great depth through adverse geological conditions brings about limitations in the application of TBMs. Among various harsh geological conditions, squeezing ground as a consequence of tunnel wall and face convergence could lead to cluttered blocking, shield jamming and in some cases failure in the support system. These issues or a combination of them could seriously hinder the performance of TBMs. The technique of excavation has a strong influence on the tunnel response when it is excavated under squeezing conditions. The Golab water conveyance tunnel was excavated by a double-shield TBM. This tunnel passes mainly through metamorphic weak rocks with up to 650 m overburden. These metamorphic rocks (Shales, Slates, Phyllites and Schists) together with some fault zones are incapable of sustaining high tangential stresses. Prediction of the convergence, estimation of the creeping effects and presenting strategies to overcome the squeezing ground are regarded as challenging tasks for the tunneling engineer. In this paper, the squeezing potential of the rock mass is investigated in specific regions by dint of numerical and analytical methods. Subsequently, several operational solutions which were conducted to counteract the challenges are explained in detail.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
• /
• 1993.10a
• /
• pp.213-219
• /
• 1993

The box girder was developed using polymer concrete, box girder were made for flexural behavior evaluation. The box girder was reinforced with reinforcing steel bars and fiber glass roving cloths. Failure loads were 13.5 tons and 16.6tons for steel reinforced girder and fiber glass reinforced girder, respectively. Especially for the fiber glass reinforced girder, the shape was not changed even after failure. It is expected that application of this idea will be useful for developing under ground box, girder, utility tunnel, small stream bridge box, etc.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.283-292
• /
• 2013

A calcareous rock slope failed during excavation of the slope for construction of a tunnel entrance. The slope is located at the construction site for widening highway in Yeongwol, Korea. Field surveys, laboratory tests, and numerical analyses were performed to determine the reason for the slope failure. The numerical analysis revealed that the safety factor of the slope before construction of the entrance was less than 1, and that this decreased after construction. After construction of the entrance, the sliding zone of the slope increased and slope stability decreased because the shear strain and plastic zone in the slope over the tunnel entrance showed an increase relative to the lower part of the slope. To enhance the stability of the slope for construction of the tunnel entrance, countermeasures such as rock bolts, rock anchors, and FRP (Fiber glass Reinforced Plastic) grouting were adopted in light of the field conditions. Serial field monitoring performed to confirm the reinforcing effects of the adopted countermeasures revealed a small amount of horizontal deformation of the slope soils, most of the elastic deformation that can regain its former value. In addition, the axial forces of the rock bolt and anchor were more strongly affected by slope excavation during construction of the tunnel entrance than by tunnel excavation or the rainy season, and the axial forces tended to converge after excavation of the tunnel. Therefore, we can confirm that the slope is currently safe.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.1480-1487
• /
• 2012

Recently, the safety of the coal-mining tunnels has been improved greatly, but accidents occur continually. Most tunnel support failures occur because the fish plate part that connects the I-beams is unable to withstand ground pressure. In the case of XX coal mine, the arch part of tunnel support bends to the upper direction. In such a case, excessive horizontal load as well as vertical load acts on the tunnel support. Horizontal load is caused by the sudden loosing of underground rock mass or the leakage of underground water, so it is fairly complex to predict horizontal loading on a tunnel support. To predict the horizontal load on this component is defined as the problem that determines the horizontal load conditions in wedges of tunnel support. This is an optimization problem in which maximum bending stress and horizontal load are considered by an objective function and design variables, respectively. Therefore, in this study, design of experiments and optimization algorithm were applied to identify the horizontal load in tunnel support.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.249-257
• /
• 2006

The spatial distribution of design parameters greatly affects tunnel behavior during and after construction, as well as in the long-term temporal responses. However, the tunnel design parameters commonly used in numerical modeling tend to be representative or average values of global-scale properties. Furthermore, the uncertainty and spatial variation of the design parameters increase as the tunnel scale increases. Consequently, the probability of failure also increases. In order to achieve structural stability in large-section tunnels, the design framework must take into consideration the quantitative effect of design parameter variations on tunnel behavior. Therefore, this paper suggests a statistical approach to numerical modeling to explore the effect of spatially distributed design parameters in a circular tunnel. Also, the effect of spatial variation in the lining strength is studied in this paper. The numerical results suggest that the deformation around the tunnel increases with an increase in the variation of the design parameters.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.487-497
• /
• 2016

If a tunnel is excavated, the released stress is redistributed in the ground around the tunnel face, which lead the stress state of the surrounding ground of the tunnel and the load acting on the tunnel support to change. If the tunnel face deforms, the ground ahead of it is relaxed, and the earth pressure acting on it decreases. And if the displacement increases so much that, the ground ahead of the tunnel face reaches in failure state. At this time, load would be transferred longitudinally in the tunnel, depending on the cover and the face deformations. The longitudinal load transfers in the tunnels induced by the tunnelling has been often studied; however, the relation between the deformation of the tunnel face and the longitudinal load transfer was rarely studied. Therefore in this study assesses the characteristics of the longitudinal load transfer as the face was failed by displacement by conducting a model test in a shallow tunnel. In other words, the longitudinal load transfer of the tunnel with the progress of the face deform was measured by conducting a model test, beginning at the state of earth pressure at rest. As results of this study, most of the longitudinal load transfers occurred drastically at the beginning of the displacement of the tunnel face, and as the displacement of the face approached the ultimate displacement, it converged to the ultimate displacement at a gentler slope. In other words, when the ground ahead of the tunnel face was still in an elastic state, the longitudinally transferred load increased sharply at the beginning stage but it tended to increase gradually if it approached to the ultimate limit. Thus, it was noted that the earth pressure in the face and the longitudinal load transfer of the tunnel had the same decreasing tendency.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.217-235
• /
• 2017

The stability prediction of shallow buried tunnels is one of the most difficult tasks in civil engineering. The aim of this work is to predict the state of collapse in shallow tunnel in layered soils by employing non-associated flow rule and nonlinear failure criterion within the framework of upper bound theorem. Particular emphasis is first given to consider the effects of dilation on the collapse mechanism of shallow tunnel. Furthermore, the seepage forces and surface settlement are considered to analyze the influence of different dilation coefficients on the collapse shape. Two different curve functions which describe two different soil layers are obtained by virtual work equations under the variational principle. The distinct characteristics of falling blocks up and down the water level are discussed in the present work. According to the numerical results, the potential collapse range decreases with the increase of the dilation coefficient. In layered soils, both of the single layer's dilation coefficient and two layers' dilation coefficients increase, the range of the potential collapse block reduces.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.919-925
• /
• 2018

Stress-strain responses of weak-to-strong carbonate rocks used for tunnel construction were studied. The analysis of applicability of exponential stress-strain models based on Haldane's distribution function is presented. It is revealed that these exponential equations presented in transformed forms allow us to predict stress-strain relationships over the whole pre-failure strain range without mechanical testing of rock samples under compression using a press machine and to avoid measurements of axial failure strains for which relatively large values of compressive stress are required. In this study, only one point measurement (small strain at small stress) using indentation test and uniaxial compressive strength determined by a standard Schmidt hammer are considered as input parameters to predict stress-strain response from zero strain/zero stress up to failure. Observations show good predictive capabilities of transformed stress-stress models for weak-to-strong (${\sigma}_c$ <100 MPa) heterogeneous carbonate rocks exhibiting small (< 0.5 %), intermediate (< 1 %) and large (> 1 %) axial strains.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.95-106
• /
• 2009

Numerical analysis of the progressive failure of a rock slope was conducted using a 3-D rock joint element considering fracture mechanics and subcritical crack growth of asperities in the rock joints. Even though the stress state in the rock slope is not changing, the elapse of time causes subcritical crack growth to break asperities in the joints. The increase of broken asperities causes failure of joints in the rock slope and the increase of failed joints results in failure of a jointed rock slope. As a result, the progressive failure of a jointed rock slope due to the gradual breaking of small asperities along joints generated by subcritical crack growth occurs at a lower stress than if rock failure occurred by exceeding the static strength or fracture toughness.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.399-410
• /
• 2020

Cavities often develop behind the vault during the construction of double-arch tunnels, generally in the form of various defects. The study evaluates the impact of cavities behind the vault on the mechanical and failure behaviors of double-arch tunnels. Cavities of the same sizes are introduced at the vault and the shoulder close to the central wall of double-arch tunnels. Physical model tests are performed to investigate the liner stress variation, the earth pressure distribution and the process of progressive failure. Results reveal that the presence of cavities behind the liner causes the re-distribution of the earth pressure and induces stress concentration near the boundaries of cavities, which results in the bending moments in the liner inside the cavity to reverse sign from compression to tension. The liner near the invert becomes the weak region and stress concentration points are created in the outer fiber of the liner at the bottom of the sidewall and central wall. It is suggested that grouting into the foundation soils and backfilling injection should be carried out to ensure the tunnel safety. Changes in the location of cavities significantly impact the failure pattern of the liner close to the vault, e.g., cracks appear in the outer fiber of the liner inside the cavity when a cavity is located at the shoulder close to the central wall, which is different from the case that the cavity locates at the vault, whereas changes in the location of cavities have a little influence on the liner at the bottom of the double-arch tunnels.