Optimization on cut-hole of mining tunnel excavation

The efficiency of excavation a mining tunnel is definitely linked with modes of cut-holes. According to experience and methods of engineering analogy, the double-wedge cut, the 9-hole cut and the single spiral cut were determined originally by considering the production conditions and blasting environment of the mining tunnels of the-74 m horizontal in the Da-ye iron mine. Based on acquired modes of cut-holes, the effect of the cut was studied, on the one hand, by a numerical simulation method with the aid of LS-DYNA3D, a nonlinear dynamic finite element program; on the other hand, a spot experiment was carried out in the mining tunnels. Both the numerical simulation and the spot experiment demonstrated and agreed that a single spiral cut provides the optimum excavation effect.

Probabilistic prediction on three-dimensional roughness of discontinuity based on two-dimensional traces under rock tunnel excavation based on Bayesian theory

Three-dimensional(3D)roughness of discontinuity affects the quality of the rock mass,but 3D roughness is hard to be measured due to that the discontinuity is invisible in the engineering.Two-dimensional(2D)roughness can be calculated from the visible traces,but it is difficult to obtain enough quantity of the traces to directly derive 3D roughness during the tunnel excavation.In this study,a new method using Bayesian theory is proposed to derive 3D roughness from the low quantity of 2D roughness samples.For more accurately calculating 3D roughness,a new regression formula of 2D roughness is established firstly based on wavelet analysis.The new JRC3D prediction model based on Bayesian theory is then developed,and Markov chain Monte Carlo(MCMC)sampling is adopted to process JRC3D prediction model.The discontinuity sample collected from the literature is used to verify the proposed method.Twenty groups with the sampling size of 2,3,4,and 5 of each group are randomly sampled from JRC2D values of 170 profiles of the discontinuity,respectively.The research results indicate that 100%,90%,85%,and 60%predicting JRC3D of the sample groups corresponding to the sampling size of 5,4,3,and 2 fall into the tolerance interval[JRC_(true)–1,JRC_(true)+1].It is validated that the sampling size of 5 is enough for predicting JRC3D.The sensitivities of sampling results are then analyzed on the influencing factors,which are the correlation function,the prior distribution,and the prior information.The discontinuity across the excavation face at ZK78+67.5 of Daxiagu tunnel is taken as the tunnel engineering application,and the results further verify that the predicting JRC3D with the sampling size of 5 is generally in good agreement with JRC3D true values.

A hybrid ventilation scheme applied to bidirectional excavation tunnel construction with a long inclined shaft

The breakage and bending of ducts result in a difficulty to cope with ventilation issues in bidirectional excavation tunnels with a long inclined shaft using a single ventilation method based on ducts.To discuss the hybrid ventilation system applied in bidirectional excavation tunnels with a long inclined shaft,this study has established a full-scale computational fluid dynamics model based on field tests,the Poly-Hexcore method,and the sliding mesh technique.The distribution of wind speed,temperature field,and CO in the tunnel are taken as indices to compare the ventilation efficiency of three ventilation systems(duct,duct-ventilation shaft,duct–ventilated shaft-axial fan).The results show that the hybrid ventilation scheme based on duct-ventilation shaft–axial fan performs the best among the three ventilation systems.Compared to the duct,the wind speed and cooling rate in the tunnel are enhanced by 7.5%–30.6%and 14.1%–17.7%,respectively,for the duct-vent shaft-axial fan condition,and the volume fractions of CO are reduced by 26.9%–73.9%.This contributes to the effective design of combined ventilation for bidirectional excavation tunnels with an inclined shaft,ultimately improving the air quality within the tunnel.

Numerical investigation of geostress influence on the grouting reinforcement effectiveness of tunnel surrounding rock mass in fault fracture zones

Grouting is a widely used approach to reinforce broken surrounding rock mass during the construction of underground tunnels in fault fracture zones,and its reinforcement effectiveness is highly affected by geostress.In this study,a numerical manifold method(NMM)based simulator has been developed to examine the impact of geostress conditions on grouting reinforcement during tunnel excavation.To develop this simulator,a detection technique for identifying slurry migration channels and an improved fluid-solid coupling(FeS)framework,which considers the influence of fracture properties and geostress states,is developed and incorporated into a zero-thickness cohesive element(ZE)based NMM(Co-NMM)for simulating tunnel excavation.Additionally,to simulate coagulation of injected slurry,a bonding repair algorithm is further proposed based on the ZE model.To verify the accuracy of the proposed simulator,a series of simulations about slurry migration in single fractures and fracture networks are numerically reproduced,and the results align well with analytical and laboratory test results.Furthermore,these numerical results show that neglecting the influence of geostress condition can lead to a serious over-estimation of slurry migration range and reinforcement effectiveness.After validations,a series of simulations about tunnel grouting reinforcement and tunnel excavation in fault fracture zones with varying fracture densities under different geostress conditions are conducted.Based on these simula-tions,the influence of geostress conditions and the optimization of grouting schemes are discussed.

Finite element implementation of strain-hardening Drucker-Prager plasticity model with application to tunnel excavation

This paper presents a finite element implementation of a strain-hardening Drucker-Prager model and its application to tunnel excavation.The computational model was constructed based on the return mapping scheme,in which an elastic trial step was first executed,followed by plastic correction involving the Newton-Raphson method to return the predicted state of stresses to the supposed yield surface.By combining the plastic shear hardening rule and stress correction equations,the loading index for the strain-hardening Drucker-Prager model was solved.It is therefore possible to update the stresses,elastic and plastic strains,and slope of the yield locus at the end of each incremental step.As an illustrative example,an integration algorithm was incorporated into ABAQUS through the user subroutine UMAT to solve the tunnel excavation problem in strain-hardening Drucker-Prager rock formations.The obtained numerical results were found to be in excellent agreement with the available analytical solutions,thus indicating the validity and accuracy of the proposed UMAT code,as well as the finite element model.

Numerical investigation of pile responses induced by adjacent tunnel excavation in spatially variable clays

The pile responses induced by adjacent tunnel excavation have been a hot research topic in geotechnical engineering.Tunnel excavation may exert disturbance to the surrounding soil mass and then influence the adjacent pile foundations.In this paper,the random finite difference analysis considering the spatial variations of soil properties is conducted to explore the effect of tunnel excavation on the adjacent pile response by varying the distance of pile away from the tunnel centerline(D),the pile length(L),the pile diameter(d_(p)),the tunnel depth(h),and the anisotropic ratio between the horizontal and the vertical scales of fluctuation(δ_(x)/δ_(y)).A set of pile response curves are developed to assess the influence of tunnel excavation on the adjacent passive pile foundations in spatially variable clays and provide guidelines for the tunnel excavation in the complex constructed environment.

Full-face excavation of large tunnels in difficult conditions

Following a few preliminary remarks on the tunneling methods at the beginning of the 20th century, thesuccessful applications of the full-face method also in difficult conditions are underlined. The attention isposed on the use of a systematic reinforcement of the face and of the ground, by means of fiber-glasselements. A selection of tunnels where this method was used successfully is reported with the purposeof illustrating the wide spectrum of ground conditions where it has been applied. Then, following adescription of the main concepts behind the method, the attention moves from the so-called “heavymethod”, where deformations are restrained, to the “light method”, where deformations are allowedwith the intention to decrease the stresses acting on the primary and final linings. The progress in theapplication of the “light method” is underlined, up to the development of a novel technique, which relieson the use of a yielding support composed of top head steel sets with sliding joints and specialdeformable elements inserted in the primary lining. The well-known case study of the Saint Martin LaPorte access adit, along the Lyon-Turin Base Tunnel, is described. In this tunnel, a yield-control supportsystem combined with full-face excavation has been adopted successfully in order to cope with the largedeformations experienced during face advance through the Carboniferous formation. The monitoringresults obtained during excavation are illustrated, together with the modeling studies performed whenpaying attention to the rock mass time-dependent behavior.

Energy release process of surrounding rocks of deep tunnels with two excavation methods

Numerical analysis of the total energy release of surrounding rocks excavated by drill-and-blast （D＆B） method and tunnel boring machine （TBM） method is presented in the paper. The stability of deep tunnels during excavation in terms of energy release is also discussed. The simulation results reveal that energy release during blasting excavation is a dynamic process. An intense dynamic effect is captured at large excavation footage. The magnitude of energy release during full-face excavation with D＆B method is higher than that with TBM method under the same conditions. The energy release rate （ERR） and speed （ERS） also have similar trends. Therefore, the rockbursts in tunnels excavated by D＆B method are frequently encountered and more intensive than those by TBM method. Since the space after tunnel face is occupied by the backup system of TBM, prevention and control of rockbursts are more difficult. Thus, rockbursts in tunnels excavated by TBM method with the same intensity are more harmful than those in tunnels by D＆B method. Reducing tunneling rate of TBM seems to be a good means to decrease ERR and risk of rockburst. The rockbursts observed during excavation of headrace tunnels at Jinping II hydropower station in West China confirm the analytical results obtained in this paper.

Modelling the performance of EPB shield tunnelling using machine and deep learning algorithms

This paper introduces an intelligent framework for predicting the advancing speed during earth pressure balance(EPB)shield tunnelling.Five artificial intelligence(AI)models based on machine and deep learning techniques-back-propagation neural network(BPNN),extreme learning machine(ELM),support vector machine(SVM),long-short term memory(LSTM),and gated recurrent unit(GRU)-are used.Five geological and nine operational parameters that influence the advancing speed are considered.A field case of shield tunnelling in Shenzhen City,China is analyzed using the developed models.A total of 1000 field datasets are adopted to establish intelligent models.The prediction performance of the five models is ranked as GRU>LSTM>SVM>ELM>BPNN.Moreover,the Pearson correlation coefficient(PCC)is adopted for sensitivity analysis.The results reveal that the main thrust(MT),penetration(P),foam volume(FV),and grouting volume(GV)have strong correlations with advancing speed(AS).An empirical formula is constructed based on the high-correlation influential factors and their corresponding field datasets.Finally,the prediction performances of the intelligent models and the empirical method are compared.The results reveal that all the intelligent models perform better than the empirical method.

Interaction analyses between tunnel and landslide in mountain area

This paper focuses on the analytical derivation and the numerical simulation analyses to predict the interaction influences between a landslide and a new tunnel in mountain areas. Based on the slip-line theory, the disturbance range induced by tunneling and the minimum safe distance between the tunnel vault and the sliding belt are obtained in consideration of the mechanical analyses of relaxed rocks over the tunnel opening. The influence factors for the minimum safe crossing distance are conducted,including the tunnel radius, the friction angle of surrounding rocks, the inclination angle of sliding belt,and the friction coefficient of surrounding rocks. Secondly, taking account of the compressive zone and relaxed rocks caused by tunneling, the Sarma method is employed to calculate the safety factor of landslide. Finally, the analytical solutions for interaction between the tunnel and the landslide are compared with a series of numerical simulations, considering the cases for different perpendicular distances between the tunnel vault and the sliding belt. Resultsshow that the distance between the tunnel vault and the slip zone has significant influence on the rock stress and strain. For the case of the minimum crossing distance, a plastic zone in the landslide traversed by tunneling would be formed with rather large range, which seriously threatens the stability of landslide. This work demonstrates that the minimum safe crossing distance obtained from numerical simulation is in a good agreement with that calculated by the proposed analytical solutions.

Vibration Effect and Damage Evolution Characteristics of Tunnel Surrounding Rock Under Cyclic Blasting Loading

Model test studies based on the similarity theory were conducted to investigate vibration effect and damage evolution characteristics of tunnel surrounding rock under push-type cyclic blasting excavation.The model was constructed with a ratio of 1∶15.By simulating the tunnel excavation of push-type cyclic blasting,the influence of the blasting parameter change on vibration effect was explored.The damage degree of tunnel surrounding rock was evaluated by the change of the acoustic wave velocity at the same measuring point after blasting.The relationship between the damage evolution of surrounding rock and blasting times was established.The research results show that：（1）In the same geological environment,the number of delay initiation is larger,the main vibration frequency of blasting seismic wave is higher,and the attenuation of high frequency signal in the rock and soil is faster.The influence of number of delay initiation on blasting vibration effect cannot be ignored;（2）Under push-type cyclic blasting excavation,there were great differences in the decreasing rates of acoustic wave velocity of the measuring points which have the same distance to the blasting region at the same depth,and the blasting damage ranges of surrounding rock were typically anisotropic at both depth and breadth;（3）When blasting parameters were basically kept as the same,the growth trend of the cumulative acoustic wave velocity decreasing rate at the measuring point was nonlinear under different cycle blasting excavations;（4）There were nonlinear evolution characteristics between the blasting cumulative damage（D）of surrounding rock and blasting times（n）under push-type cyclic blasting loading,and different measuring points had corresponding blasting cumulative damage propagation models,respectively.The closer the measuring point was away from the explosion source,the faster the cumulative damage extension.Blasting cumulative damage effect of surrounding rock had typically nonlinear evolution properties and anisotropic characteristics.

Anisotropic modelling of Opalinus Clay behaviour: From triaxial tests to gallery excavation application

Deep repository in geological formations is the preferential solution considered in many countries to manage high-level nuclear wastes. In Switzerland, the Opalinus Clay is a candidate host rock. In this context, in situ and laboratory tests are conducted on Opalinus Clay to demonstrate the feasibility of deep disposal in this argillaceous formation. This paper presents a constitutive model able to fit the experimental data obtained from some triaxial tests conducted by Jahns(2013) on cores from borehole Schlattingen SLA-1. The elasto-plastic behaviour of Opalinus Clay is reproduced thanks to a DruckerPrager model, taking into account the anisotropy behaviour of this sedimentary rock. The objective is to employ a single set of parameters representative of the material. In a second version of the model, the stress-dependence of the elastic properties and damage are taken into account. Finally, the parameters calibrated with experimental tests are used to simulate the excavation of a gallery with a second gradient approach.

Fracture development around deep underground excavations: Insights from FDEM modelling

Over the past twenty years, there has been a growing interest in the development of numerical modelsthat can realistically capture the progressive failure of rock masses. In particular, the investigation ofdamage development around underground excavations represents a key issue in several rock engineeringapplications, including tunnelling, mining, drilling, hydroelectric power generation, and the deepgeological disposal of nuclear waste. The goal of this paper is to show the effectiveness of a hybrid finitediscreteelement method （FDEM） code to simulate the fracturing mechanisms associated with theexcavation of underground openings in brittle rock formations. A brief review of the current state-of-theartmodelling approaches is initially provided, including the description of selecting continuum- anddiscontinuum-based techniques. Then, the influence of a number of factors, including mechanical and insitu stress anisotropy, as well as excavation geometry, on the simulated damage is analysed for threedifferent geomechanical scenarios. Firstly, the fracture nucleation and growth process under isotropicrock mass conditions is simulated for a circular shaft. Secondly, the influence of mechanical anisotropy onthe development of an excavation damaged zone （EDZ） around a tunnel excavated in a layered rockformation is considered. Finally, the interaction mechanisms between two large caverns of an undergroundhydroelectric power station are investigated, with particular emphasis on the rock mass responsesensitivity to the pillar width and excavation sequence. Overall, the numerical results indicate that FDEMsimulations can provide unique geomechanical insights in cases where an explicit consideration offracture and fragmentation processes is of paramount importance. 2014 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting byElsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Failure responses of rock tunnel faces during excavation through the fault-fracture zone

It is essential to cast light on the construction risks in tunnel excavations through the fault-fracture zone(FFZ).This study adopts the material point method(MPM)to simulate the failure responses of a rock tunnel face during excavation through the FFZ.A numerical study was conducted to compare a physical model test and validate the feasibility of using the MPM in simulating tunnel face failure.One hundred ninety numerical simulation cases were constructed to represent a rock tunnel excavation project with different site con-figurations.The simulation results suggest that the cohesion and the friction angle significantly influence failure responses.The tunnel cover depth can magnify the failure responses,and the FFZ thickness significantly affects the mobilized rock mass volume when the FFZ consists of a weak rock mass.The numerical simulation results suggest three deformation patterns:face bulge,partial failure,and slide collapse.The failure responses can be characterized by stress arch,slip surface,angle of reposing,and influence range.The insights suggested by the face failure responses during excavation through the FFZ can aid field engineers in determining the scope of possible damage,and in establishing emergency measures to minimize losses if such failure occurs.

Geomechanical model test for analysis of surrounding rock behaviours in composite strata

Due to the large differences in physico-mechanical pro perties of composite strata,jamming,head sinking and other serious consequences occur frequently during tunnel boring machine(TBM)excavation.To analyse the stability of surrounding rocks in composite strata under the disturbance of TBM excavation,a geomechanical model test was carried out based on the Lanzhou water supply project.The evolution patterns and distribution characteristics of the strain,stress,and tunnel deformation and fracturing were analysed.The results showed that during TBM excavation in the horizontal composite formations(with upper soft and lower hard layers and with upper hard and lower soft layers),a significant difference in response to the surrounding rocks can be observed.As the strength ratio of the surrounding rocks decreases,the ratio of the maximum strain of the hard rock mass to that of the relatively soft rock mass gradually decreases.The radial stress of the relatively soft rock mass is smaller than that of the hard rock mass in both types of composite strata,indicating that the weak rock mass in the composite formation results in the difference in the mechanical behaviours of the surrounding rocks.The displacement field of the surrounding rocks obtained by the digital speckle correlation method(DSCM)and the macro-fracture morphology after tunnel excavation visually reflected the deformation difference of the composite rock mass.Finally,some suggestions and measures were provided for TBM excavation in composite strata,such as advance geological forecasting and effective monitoring of weak rock masses.

Attention-based LSTM predictive model for the attitude and position of shield machine in tunneling

Shield machine may deviate from its design axis during excavation due to the uncertainty of geological environment and the complexity of operation.This study therefore introduced a framework to predict the attitude and position of shield machine by combining long short-term memory(LSTM)model with attention mechanism.The data obtained from the Wuhan Rail Transit Line 6 project were utilized to verify the feasibility of the proposed method.By adding the attention mechanism into the LSTM model,the proposed model can focus more on parameters with higher weights.Sensitivity analysis based on Pearson correlation coefficient was conducted to improve the prediction efficiency and reduce the irrelevant input parameters.Compared with LSTM model,LSTM-attention model has higher accuracy.The mean value of coefficient of determination(R^(2))increases from 0.625 to 0.736,and the mean value of root mean square error(RMSE)decreases from 3.31 to 2.24.The proposed LSTM-attention model can provide an effective prediction for attitude and position of shield machine in practical tunneling engineering.

A hydromechanical approach for anisotropic elasto-viscoplastic geomaterials:Application to underground excavations in sedimentary rocks

To better describe excavation operations in deep geological formations,several aspects should be considered,especially the material anisotropy,time-dependent behavior,and hydromechanical coupling.In the present paper,a hydromechanical model based on the framework of continuous porous media was proposed.The mechanical elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model accounted for the material elastic and non-elastic anisotropies,using a transformation between the real transversely isotropic material and a fictitious isotropic material.Considering the hydraulic behavior,the permeability was expressed as a function of the volumetric viscoplastic strain.The model was applied to a case study of two tunnel excavations in an anisotropic rock under an initial anisotropic stress state.The results of the numerical simulations using a finite element code were in good agreement with the field convergence and permeability data.

Numerical modeling of the failure process of the heterogeneous karst rock mass using the DDA-SPH method

The sanding process caused by karstification in dolomite creates a special sandy dolomite stratum,where the frequent catastrophic instability of the surrounding rock occurred during tunnel construction.In this study,the micro-origin and macro-performance of the sandy dolomite stratum are first discussed.Then,a numerical model based on the coupling method between the discontinuous deformation analysis and smoothed particle hydrodynamics is proposed to depict the heterogeneous dolomite formation with different sanding degrees.Following,the mechanical behaviors of the heterogeneous dolomite samples under uniaxial compression are studied after calibrating the numerical parameters with the two single materials sampled from the tunnel site respectively.Further,the instability disasters of the dolomite surrounding rock with different sanding degrees are reproduced,and the failure behaviors of tunnels are explained with respect to the stress distribution and plastic zone.The obtained results show that the rotation and dislocation of the remained dolomite block contribute to the unsmooth stress–strain curve and deterioration in uniaxial compressive strength.However,the block serves as the skeleton in the transmission of field stress in underground space,which improves the stability of the formation.

Viscoelastic plastic interaction of tunnel support and strain-softening rock mass considering longitudinal effect

A simplified two-stage method was employed to provide an explicit solution for the time-dependent tunnel-rock interaction,considering the generalized Zhang-Zhu strength criterion.Additionally,a simplified mechanical model of the yielding support structure was established.The tunnel excavation is simplified to a two-stage process:the first stage is affected by the longitudinal effect,while the second stage is affected by rheological behavior.Two cases are considered:one is that the rigid support is constructed during the first stage,and the other is that constructed at the second stage.Distinguished by the support timing at the seconde stage,different kinds of the“yield-resist combination”support method are divided into three categories:“yield before resist”support,“yield-resist”support,and“control-yield-resist”support.Results show that the support reaction of“control-yield-resist”is much higher than that of“yield before resist”if the initial geostress is not very high,but the effect is not obvious on controlling the surrounding rock deformation.So,the“yield before resist”support is much more economical and practical when the ground stress is not very high.However,under high geostress condition,through applying relatively high support reaction actively to surrounding rock at the first stage,the“control-yield-resist”support is superior in controlling the deformation rate of surrounding rock.Therefore,in the high geostress environment,it is recommended to construct prestressed yielding anchor immediately after excavation,and then construct rigid support after the surrounding rock deformation reaches the predetermined deformation.