Mechanical performances of shield tunnel segments under asymmetric unloading induced by pit excavation

To explore the stress and deformation responses,as well as the failure characteristics of the shield tunnel segment of Hangzhou Metro under the influences of pit excavation and other surrounding projects,a self-developed“shield tunnel segment hydraulic loading system”was used to carry out full-scale loading tests on the three-ring staggered assembled segments.The structural performances and failure process of the tunnel segment under step-by-step asymmetric unloading were studied.A safety index was proposed to describe the bearing capacity of the segment.Next,a finite element model(FEM)was established to analyze the bearing capacity of segment using the test results.Finally,the effect of reinforcement with a steel plate on the deformation and bearing capacity of the segment was analyzed.The results showed that under asymmetric unloading,the peak value and amplitude of the bending moment on the near unloading side converged with a greater value than those on the far side.The concrete internal force exhibited a directional transformation at different load stages.Cracks first appeared at the 180inner arc surface of the bottom standard block and then expanded to both sides,while the rate of crack propagation of the outer arc surface was relatively lower.The bearing capacity of the segments can be evaluated by the combination of the factors,e.g.the residual bearing capacity coefficient,moment transfer coefficient,and characterization coefficient.The segments approaching failure can facilitate the increase in the residual bearing capacity coefficient by more than 50%.This can provide guidance for the service assessment of metro tunnel operations.

Investigation of FRP and SFRC Technologies for Efficient Tunnel Reinforcement Using the Cohesive Zone Model

Amid urbanization and the continuous expansion of transportation networks,the necessity for tunnel construction and maintenance has become paramount.Addressing this need requires the investigation of efficient,economical,and robust tunnel reinforcement techniques.This paper explores fiber reinforced polymer(FRP)and steel fiber reinforced concrete(SFRC)technologies,which have emerged as viable solutions for enhancing tunnel structures.FRP is celebrated for its lightweight and high-strength attributes,effectively augmenting load-bearing capacity and seismic resistance,while SFRC’s notable crack resistance and longevity potentially enhance the performance of tunnel segments.Nonetheless,current research predominantly focuses on experimental analysis,lacking comprehensive theoretical models.To bridge this gap,the cohesive zone model(CZM),which utilizes cohesive elements to characterize the potential fracture surfaces of concrete/SFRC,the rebar-concrete interface,and the FRP-concrete interface,was employed.A modeling approach was subsequently proposed to construct a tunnel segment model reinforced with either SFRC or FRP.Moreover,the corresponding mixed-mode constitutive models,considering interfacial friction,were integrated into the proposed model.Experimental validation and numerical simulations corroborated the accuracy of the proposed model.Additionally,this study examined the reinforcement design of tunnel segments.Through a numerical evaluation,the effectiveness of innovative reinforcement schemes,such as substituting concrete with SFRC and externally bonding FRP sheets,was assessed utilizing a case study from the Fuzhou Metro Shield Tunnel Construction Project.

Pixel-level crack segmentation of tunnel lining segments based on an encoder–decoder network

Regular detection and repair for lining cracks are necessary to guarantee the safety and stability of tunnels.The development of computer vision has greatly promoted structural health monitoring.This study proposes a novel encoder–decoder structure,CrackRecNet,for semantic segmentation of lining segment cracks by integrating improved VGG-19 into the U-Net architecture.An image acquisition equipment is designed based on a camera,3-dimensional printing(3DP)bracket and two laser rangefinders.A tunnel concrete structure crack(TCSC)image data set,containing images collected from a double-shield tunnel boring machines(TBM)tunnel in China,was established.Through data preprocessing operations,such as brightness adjustment,pixel resolution adjustment,flipping,splitting and annotation,2880 image samples with pixel resolution of 448×448 were prepared.The model was implemented by Pytorch in PyCharm processed with 4 NVIDIA TITAN V GPUs.In the experiments,the proposed CrackRecNet showed better prediction performance than U-Net,TernausNet,and ResU-Net.This paper also discusses GPU parallel acceleration effect and the crack maximum width quantification.

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.

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.

Analytical and numerical analysis on the torsional performance of elliptically deformed tunnels in the longitudinal direction

Segmental lining structures constructed by shields/tunnel boring machines are often subjected to uneven longitudinal cross-section torsion as a result of eccentric external loads,which is extremely adverse to tunnel safety but has not received sufficient attention for a long time.To figure out the torsional performance of segmental tunnels,it is essential to assess the longitudinal torsional stiffness and active-torsion-rejection capability of a segmented tunnel.The aim of the paper is to derive an analytical solution to the longitudinal torsional stiffness of a segmental tunnel with existing elliptical deformation.The longitudinal torsional stiffness under different internal force combinations is deduced considering the longitudinal axial force and bending moment based on the equivalent continuous model and force balance equation.The validity of the analytical solution is verified by comparing it with finite element method results.Then,a parametric analysis,using the new analytical solution,is included to investigate the effect of the key parameters on torsional behaviors,including the segment size,the bolt size and the transverse bending stiffness,etc.It is found that:(1)the longitudinal torsional stiffness efficiency(LTSE)of the segmental tunnel decreases with the rise of segment thickness to diameter ratio but increases with the ring width to diameter ratio;(2)the LTSE reduces with the increase of the effective shear length but rises with the diameter of bolts;(3)the LTSE increases rapidly with the ratio of compression-torsion or bending-torsion.Furthermore,the envelope curve of the critical load(N0,M0)for a tunnel to actively resist a certain internal torque is given.The proposed solution can be easily utilized to determine the longitudinal torsional stiffness of segmental tunnels and is an effective tool for tunnel design and maintenance.

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.