Application of transient Rayleigh wave in detection of tunnel lining void area

Transient Rayleigh wave detection is a high-precision nondestructive detection method.At present,it has been widely used in shallow exploration,but rarely used in tunnel lining quality detection.Through the tunnel lining physical model experiment,the layout defects of the double-layer reinforcement lining area were detected and the Rayleigh wave velocity profile and dispersion curve were analyzed after data process-ing,which finally verified the feasibility and accuracy of Rayleigh wave method in detecting the tunnel lining void area.The results show that the method is not affected by the reinforcement inside the lining,the shallow detection is less disturbed and the accuracy is higher,and the data will fluctuate slightly with the deepening of the detection depth.At the same time,this method responds quite accurately to the thickness of the concrete,allowing for the assessment of the tunnel lining’s lack of compactness.This method has high efficiency,good reliability,and simple data processing,and is suitable for nondestructive detection of internal defects of tun-nel lining structure.

Semi-analytical solution for internal forces of tunnel lining with multiple longitudinal cracks

Longitudinal cracks on the tunnel lining significantly influence the performance of tunnels in operation.In this study,we propose a semi-analytical method that provides a simple and effective way to calculate the internal forces of tunnel linings with multiple cracks.The semi-analytical solution is obtained using structural analysis considering the flexural rigidity for the cracked longitudinal section of the tunnel lining.Then the proposed solution is verified numerically.Using the proposed method,the influences of the crack depth and the number of cracks on the bending moment and modified crack tip stress are investigated.With the increase in crack depth,the bending moment of lining scetion adjacent to the crack decreases,while the bending moment of lining scetion far away from the crack increases slightly.The more the number of cracks in a tunnel lining,the easier the new cracks initiated.

An expert system for diagnosing fire-caused damages to reinforced-concrete tunnel lining

During the last four decades, reinforced-concrete structure failures have been happening widely for many reasons, such as increased service loads, war accidents, fire, and durability problems. The economic losses due to those failures are very high. An expert system is an interactive computer-based decision tool that uses both facts and heuristics to solve difficult problems based on knowledge acquired from experts. To realize these requirements, a logic programming visual basic language is used together with visual diagnosis. The expert system, Diagnosis of Fire-Caused Damages to Reinforced-Concrete Tunnel Lining (DFCDRCTL) was developed in this work for diagnosing the annual damages caused by fire. The program is used as an alternative of a human expert to make annual technical decisions in diagnosing fire damages at the second reinforced-concrete tunnel lining segment. It is concluded that the proposed DFCDRCTL expert system is easy to use, and is fast and helpful for engineers.

Adhesion performance of alkali-activated material for 3-dimensional printing of tunnel linings at different temperatures

Robotic-based technologies such as automated spraying or extrusion-based 3-dimensional(3D)concrete printing can be used to build tunnel linings,aiming at reducing labor and mitigating the associated safety issues,especially in the high-geothermal environment.Extrusion-based 3D concrete printing(3DCP)has additional advantages over automated sprayings,such as improved surface quality and no rebound.However,the effect of different temperatures on the adhesion performance of 3D-printed materials for tunnel linings has not been investigated.This study developed several alkali-activated slag mixtures with different activator modulus ratios to avoid the excessive use of Portland cement and enhance sustainability of 3D printable materials.The thermal responses of the mixtures at different temperatures of 20 and 40℃ were studied.The adhesion strength of the alkali-activated material was evaluated for both early and later ages.Furthermore,the structural evolution of the material exposed to different temperatures was measured.This was followed by microstructure characterization.Results indicate that elevated temperatures accelerate material reactions,resulting in improved early-age adhesion performance.Moreover,higher temperatures contribute to the development of a denser microstructure and enhanced mechanical strength in the hardened stage,particularly in mixtures with higher silicate content.

Interface failure of segmental tunnel lining strengthened with steel plates based on fracture mechanics

Segmental tunnel lining strengthened with steel plates is widely used worldwide to provide a permanent strengthening method.Most existing studies assume an ideal steel-concrete interface,ignoring discontinuous deformation characteristics,making it difficult to accurately analyze the strengthened structure’s failure mechanism.In this study,interfacial fracture mechanics of composite material was applied to the segmental tunnel lining strengthened with steel plates,and a numerical three-dimensional solid nonlinear model of the lining structure was established,combining the extended finite element method with a cohesive-zone model to account for the discontinuous deformation characteristics of the interface.The results accurately describe the crack propagation process,and are verified by full-scale testing.Next,dynamic simulations based on the calibrated model were conducted to analyze the sliding failure and cracking of the steel-concrete interface.Lastly,detailed location of the interface bonding failure are further verified by model test.The results show that,the cracking failure and bond failure of the interface are the decisive factors determining the instability and failure of the strengthened structure.The proposed numerical analysis is a major step forward in revealing the interface failure mechanism of strengthened composite material structures.

Time-dependent safety of lining structures of circular tunnels in weak rock strata

Following tunnel excavation and lining completion,fractured surrounding rock deforms gradually over time;this results in a time-dependent evolution of the pressure applied to the lining structure by the surrounding rock.Thus,the safety of the tunnel lining in weak strata is strongly correlated with time.In this study,we developed an analytical method for determining the time-dependent pressure in the surrounding rock and lining structure of a circular tunnel under a hydrostatic stress field.Under the proposed method,the stress–strain relationship of the fractured surrounding rock is assumed to conform to that of the Burgers viscoelastic component,and the lining structure is assumed to be an elastomer.Based on these assumptions,the viscoelastic deformation of the surrounding rock,the elastic deformation of the lining structure,and the coordinated deformation between the surrounding rock and lining structure were derived.The proposed analytical method,which employs a time-dependent safety coefficient,was subsequently used to estimate the durability of the lining structure of the Foling Tunnel in China.The derived attenuation curve of the safety coefficient with respect to time can assist engineers in predicting the remaining viable life of the lining structure.Unlike existing analytical methods,the method derived in this study considers the time dependency of the interaction between the surrounding rock and tunnel lining;hence,it is more suitable for the evaluation of lining lifetime.

The nature frequency identification of tunnel lining based on the microtremor method

Many tunnels all over the world have been in service for several decades,which require effective inspection methods to assess their health conditions.Microtremor,as a type of ambient vibration originating from natural or artificial oscillations without specific sources,has attracted more and more attentions in the recent study of the microtremor dynamic properties of concrete structures.In this study,the microtremors of the tunnel lining were simulated numerically based on the Distinct Element Method(DEM).The Power Spectra Density(PSD)of signals obtained from numerical simulations were calculated and the nature frequencies were identified using the peak-picking method.The influences of the rock-concrete joint,the rock type and the concrete type on the nature frequencies were also evaluated.The results of a comprehensive numerical analysis show that the nature frequencies lower than 100 Hz can be identified.As the bonding condition becomes worse,the nature frequencies decrease.The nature frequencies change proportionally with the normal stiffness of the rock-concrete joint.As the concrete grade decreases,the third mode of frequency also decreases gradually while the variation of the first two modes of frequencies can hardly be identified.Additionally,the field microtremor measurements of tunnel lining were also carried out to verify the numerical results.

Effect of defects and remediation measures on the internal forces caused by a local thickness reduction in the tunnel lining

This study presents a case history of a tunnel lining with an insufficient thickness.The effect of the defects resulting from the insuf-ficient thickness of the secondary lining and their locations on the internal forces are discussed based on numerical analysis.The results show that defects increase the number of inflection points in the defect region.The increased maximum bending moment is located on the air side of the secondary lining around the defect region.The defects near the crown of the secondary lining have the most significant influence on the internal forces of the primary and secondary linings,while the defects near the sidewall of the secondary lining have a limited influence on the internal forces of the lining.A remediation measure consisting of the installation of a tertiary lining is proposed and its efficiency is analyzed.The tertiary lining significantly reduces the bending moment of the secondary lining and the axial force of the primary lining.The effect of the thickness and location of the tertiary lining on the tunnel performance is discussed.

Evaluation of the effect of using fiber reinforcement in tunnel linings for metro projects

Metro(subway)is an advanced public transport infrastructure system in urban areas with high capacity.The traffic operation of a metro is not affected by other vehicle traffic thanks to underground tunnels.With these benefits metro lines are preferred to solve the traffic problem in urbanized cities such as Istanbul,which is the focus of this study.Metro projects require huge amounts of budgets to be built.Putting these projects into service in targeted time is of great importance.The objective of this study is to minimize total metro construction project time by utilizing fiber reinforcement in tunnel linings.In this research,using fiber reinforcement to construct primary(initial)tunnel linings and secondary(final)tunnel linings of the metro projects are analyzed in terms of project duration.After comparison of two railway tunnel projects,evaluations and observations of a completed metro project revealed that using fiber reinforcement for either the primary lining or the final lining of tunnels reduces construction time of metro station tunnels by 25%.In addition,using fiber reinforcement to construct both the final lining and the primary lining of tunnels reduces construction time of the metro station tunnels and the whole metro project by 47% and 22%,respectively.The results of this study can be useful for completing challenging metro projects and putting it into service within the targeted time.

Preliminary design method for absorber pipe length of tunnel lining ground heat exchangers based on energy efficiency of heat pump

Many ongoing tunnel projects provide a favorable opportunity for the investigation and application of tunnel lining ground heat exchangers(GHEs).Tunnel lining GHEs can be connected to a heat pump to extract geothermal energy for heating and cooling buildings.Numerous studies have focused on the thermal performance of tunnel lining GHEs;however,the studies on the interaction between heat pumps and tunnel lining GHEs are relatively rare.In this study,a coupled heat transfer model of heat pumps and tunnel lining GHEs was proposed and then calibrated based on in situ test results.The model was used to evaluate the energy efficiency of a heat pump with tunnel lining GHEs under different conditions.The results show that the energy efficiency ratio(EER)increases exponentially with the absorber pipe length and thermal conductivity of the surrounding rock.The EER is governed by the convection heat transfer coefficient,which varies exponentially;meanwhile,the EER decreases approximately linearly with the annual average air temperature in the tunnel.Different types of heat pumps affect the EER significantly,and the EER of a Type-3 heat pump is higher than that of a Type-1 heat pump by 27.1%.Based on the aforementioned results,an empirical formula for the EER and absorber pipe length was established.Moreover,a preliminary design method for the absorber pipe length based on this empirical formula was developed.The method was employed to determine the appropriate absorber pipe length for the tunnel lining GHEs in the Shapu tunnel in Shenzhen,China.Finally,groups of absorber pipe layouts with a pipe spacing of 0.5 m,area of 135 m2,and length of 293.5 m were preliminarily determined.

Analytical modeling of complex contact behavior between rock mass and lining structure

Based on the nondestructive test data of operating railway tunnels in China, this paper summarizes the basic characteristics of the complex contact behavior between the rock mass and lining structure. The contact modes are classified into dense contact, local non-contact, and loose contact. Subsequently, the corresponding mechanical model for each contact mode is developed according to its mechanical characteristics using the complex variable method. In the proposed mechanical model, a special algorithm is introduced to detect whether the local non-contact zone is re-contacted. Besides, a novel conformal mapping method is also proposed to accurately calculate the mechanical response of the concrete lining. Finally, the accuracy of the proposed method is verified by comparing it with the finite element method(FEM). Several parameter investigations are conducted to analyze the effects of different contact modes on the rock-lining interaction. The results show that:(i) the height of the local noncontact area does not have a significant effect on the contact stress distribution if no re-contact occurs;(ii) backfill grouting can reduce the local stress concentration caused by poor contact modes;and(iii) reducing the friction coefficient of the interface can lead to a more uniform distribution of internal forces in the concrete lining.

Rock Pressure on Tunnel with Shallow Depth in Geologically Inclined Bedding Strata

The method to calculate rock pressure to which the lining structure of tunnel with shallow depth is subjected in geologically inclined bedding strata is analyzed and put forward. Both the inclination angle of bedding strata as well as the internal friction angle of bedding plane and its cohesion all exert an influence upon the magnitude of the asymmetric rock pressure applied to tunnel. The feature that rock pressure applied to tunnel structure varies with the incUnation angle of bedding strata is discussed, At last, the safety factor, which is utilized to evaluate the working state of tunnel lining structure, is calculated for both symmetric and asymmetric lining structures. The calculation results elucidate that the asymmetric tunnel structure can be more superior to bear rock pressure in comparison with the symmetric one and should be adopted in engineering as far as possible.

Elastoplastic Analysis of Circular Tunnel in Saturated Ground Under Different Load Conditions

When a tunnel is excavated below the groundwater table,groundwater flows in through the excavated wall of the tunnel and seepage forces act on it.These forces significantly affect the ground reaction curve,which is defined as the relationship between the internal pressure and radial displacement of the tunnel wall.This study investigates analytical solutions for seepage forces acting on the lining of a circular tunnel under steady-state groundwater flow.Considering the tunnel’s construction or service period and boundary conditions,the direction of maximum principal stress changes,and the input stress of the Mohr-Coulomb criterion varies.The stress distribution and yield range of the surrounding soils and linings are studied.The first,second,and third critical inner pressures are defined and evaluated.The influence of the seepage field on the plastic radius,first critical pressure,and stress distribution of the tunnel is analyzed.It is shown that during the construction period,the seepage force promotes the expansion of the yield area,whereas during the service period,the opposite is the case.The first critical pressure increases nearly linearly with the distant water pressure.The radial stress distribution decreases clearly in comparison with that when the seepage force is not considered,and the reduction is more prominent when internal pressure increases.The tangential stress distribution increases clearly compared with that when the seepage force is not considered.

Dynamic interaction of twin vertically overlapping lined tunnels in an elastic half space subjected to incident plane waves

The scattering of plane harmonic P and SV waves by a pair of vertically overlapping lined tunnels buried in an elastic half space is solved using a semi-analytic indirect boundary integration equation method. Then the effect of the distance between the two tunnels, the stiffness and density of the lining material, and the incident frequency on the seismic response of the tunnels is investigated. Numerical results demonstrate that the dynamic interaction between the twin tunnels cannot be ignored and the lower tunnel has a significant shielding effect on the upper tunnel for high-frequency incident waves, resulting in great decrease of the dynamic hoop stress in the upper tunnel; for the low-frequency incident waves, in contrast, the lower tunnel can lead to amplification effect on the upper tunnel. It also reveals that the frequency-spectrum characteristics of dynamic stress of the lower tunnel are significantly different from those of the upper tunnel. In addition, for incident P waves in low-frequency region, the soft lining tunnels have significant amplification effect on the surface displacement amplitude, which is slightly larger than that of the corresponding single tunnel.

Heteromaterial-gate line tunnel field-effect transistor based on Si/Ge heterojunction

A Si/Ge heterojunction line tunnel field-effect transistor （LTFET） with a symmetric heteromaterial gate is proposed. Compared to single-material-gate LTFETs, the heteromaterial gate LTFET shows an off-state leakage current that is three orders of magnitude lower, and steeper subthreshold characteristics, without degradation in the on-state current. We reveal that these improvements are due to the induced local potential barrier, which arises from the energy-band profile modulation effect. Based on this novel structure, the impacts of the physical parameters of the gap region between the pocket and the drain, including the work-function mismatch between the pocket gate and the gap gate, the type of dopant, and the doping concentration, on the device performance are investigated. Simulation and theoretical calculation results indicate that the gap gate material and n-type doping level in the gap region should be optimized simultaneously to make this region fully depleted for further suppression of the off-state leakage current.

Design and investigation of dopingless double-gate line tunneling transistor: Analog performance, linearity, and harmonic distortion analysis

The tunnel field-effect transistor (TFET) is proposed by using the advantages of dopingless and line-tunneling technology. The line tunneling is created due to the fact that the gate electric field is aligned with the tunneling direction, which dramatically enhances tunneling area and tunneling current. Moreover, the effects of the structure parameters such as the length between top gate and source electrode, the length between top gate and drain electrode, the distance between bottom gate and drain electrode, and the metal position on the on-state current, electric field and energy band are investigated and optimized. In addition, analog/radio-frequency performance and linearity characteristics are studied. All results demonstrate that the proposed device not only enhances the on/of current ratio and reduces the subthreshold swing, but also offers eight times improvement in cut-off frequency and gain band product as compared with the conventional point tunneling dopingless TFET, at the same time;it shows better linearity and small distortions. This proposed device greatly enhances the potential of applications in dopingless TFET.

A holistic approach for the investigation of lining response to mechanized tunneling induced construction loadings

Design methods for segmental tunnel linings used in mechanized tunnel constructions typically employ numerical bedded beam mod-els and/or classical analytical solutions for the determination of structural forces(i.e.moments and shear and axial forces)and simple load spreading assumptions for the design of the reinforcement in joint areas.However effcient such methods may be,many physical details are often overlooked and/or oversimplified in the process of reducing the actual structure to a structural beam model,e.g.ana-lytically derived loadings are employed,the grouting and ground reactions are reduced to a spring bedding,and the confinement due to grouting at the longitudinal joint is largely not considered in reinforcement design.Such a design process is not able to account for,or predict,the susceptibility of tunnel linings to often observed damages that,although they may not be structurally relevant,lead to ser-viceability or durability issues,such as crack development or chipping at the segment corners.Numerical methods,such as the Finite Element Method,provide an opportunity to model the segmental tunnel lining and its response to the entire TBM construction process and to explicitly model the crack development within individual segments using modern methods to model the discontinuities in struc-tures.In this contribution,a holistic modeling procedure for the representation of the tunnel lining within the tunneling process is pro-posed and compared to traditional lining models.A 3D process oriented Finite Element model is used to calculate the predicted forces on the tunnel lining and the obtained results are compared with those generated by traditional methods.Subsequently,the predicted defor-mations are then transferred to a detailed segment model in which the nonlinear response of the segment at the longitudinal joint is mod-eled using an interface element based approach to simulate concrete cracking.

Cohesive zone model-based analyses of localized leakage of segmentally lined tunnels

This paper presents a novel approach for simulating the localized leakage behavior of segmentally lined tunnels based on a cohesive zone model.The proposed approach not only simulates localized leakage at the lining segment,but also captures the hydromechanically coupled seepage behavior at the segmental joints.It is first verified via a tunnel drainage experiment,which reveals its merits over the existing local hydraulic conductivity method.Subsequently,a parametric study is conducted to investigate the effects of the aperture size,stratum permeability,and spatial distribution of drainage holes on the leakage behavior,stratum seepage field,and leakage-induced mechanical response of the tunnel lining.The proposed approach yields more accurate results than the classical local hydraulic conductivity method.Moreover,it is both computationally efficient and stable.Localized leakage leads to reduced local ground pressure,which further induces outward deformation near the leakage point and slight inward deformation at its diametrically opposite side.A localized stress arch spanning across the leakage point is observed,which manifests as the rotation of the principal stresses in the adjacent area.The seepage field depends on both the number and location of the leakage zones.Pseudostatic seepage zones,in which the seepage rate is significantly lower than that of the adjacent area,appear when multiple seepage zones are considered.Finally,the importance of employing the hydromechanical coupled mechanism at the segment joints is highlighted by cases of shallowly buried tunnels subjected to surface loading and pressure tunnels while considering internal water pressure.

Simulation study of device physics and design of GeOI TFET with PNN structure and buried layer for high performance

Large threshold voltage and small on-state current are the main limitations of the normal tunneling field effect transistor (TFET). In this paper, a novel TFET with gate-controlled P+N+N+ structure based on partially depleted GeOI (PD-GeOI) substrate is proposed. With the buried P+-doped layer (BP layer) introduced under P+N+N+ structure, the proposed device behaves as a two-tunneling line device and can be shut off by the BP junction, resulting in a high on-state current and low threshold voltage. Simulation results show that the on-state current density Ion of the proposed TFET can be as large as 3.4 × 10^−4 A/μm, and the average subthreshold swing (SS) is 55 mV/decade. Moreover, both of Ion and SS can be optimized by lengthening channel and buried P+ layer. The off-state current density of TTP TFET is 4.4 × 10^−10 A/μm, and the threshold voltage is 0.13 V, showing better performance than normal germanium-based TFET. Furthermore, the physics and device design of this novel structure are explored in detail.

From advance exploration to real time steering of TBMs:A review on pertinent research in the Collaborative Research Center.“Interaction Modeling in Mechanized Tunneling”

This paper reports on planning and construction related results from research performed at the Collaborative Research Center“Interaction Modeling in Mechanized Tunneling”at Ruhr-University Bochum,Germany.Research covers a broad spectrum of topics relevant for mechanized tunneling in soft soil conditions.This includes inverse numerical methods for advance exploration and models for the characterization of the in situ ground conditions,the interaction of the face support and the tail gap grouting with the porous soil,multi-scale models for the design offiber reinforced segmental linings with enhanced robustness,computational methods for the numer-ical simulation of the tunnel advancement,the soil excavation and the material transport in the pressure chamber,logistics processes and risk analysis in urban tunneling.Targeted towards the continuous support of the construction process,a concept for real-time steering support of tunnel boring machines in conjunction with model update procedures and methods of uncertainty quantification is addressed.