Typical Underwater Tunnels in the Mainland of China and Related Tunneling Technologies

In the past decades, many underwater tunnels have been constructed in the mainland of China, and great progress has been made in related tunneling technologies. This paper presents the history and state of the art of underwater tunnels in the mainland of China in terms of shield-bored tunnels, drill-and-blast tunnels, and immersed tunnels. Typical underwater tunnels of these types in the mainland of China are described, along with innovative technologies regarding comprehensive geological prediction, grouting-based consolidation, the design and construction of large cross-sectional tunnels with shallow cover in weak strata, cutting tool replacement under limited drainage and reduced pressure conditions, the detection and treatment of boulders, the construction of underwater tunnels in areas with high seismic intensity, and the treatment of serious sedimentation in a foundation channel of immersed tunnels. Some suggestions are made regarding the three potential great strait-crossing tunnels-the Qiongzhou Strait-Crossing Tunnel, Bohai Strait-Crossing Tunnel, and Taiwan Strait-Crossing Tunnel--and issues related to these great strait-crossing tunnels that need further study are proposed.

Determination of rock resistant coefficient based on Mohr-Coulomb criterion for underwater tunnel

According to the load-structure method, the wall rock with lining can bear the load caused by the surrounding rock, and the rock resistant coefficient (RRC) is a key parameter for evaluating the capacity of this wall rock. Based on the Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion, this paper develops a formula for calculating the RRC, which has been applied to the real engi-neering project, such as Xiamen Xiang’an East Passage Underwater Tunnel Project. The fact shows that this formula is helpful for designers to determine the RRC value.

Prototype test study on mechanical characteristics of segmental lining structure of underwater railway shield tunnel

Based on the first unde rwater railway shield tunnel, the Shiziyang shield tunnel of Guangzhou Zhu- jiang River, the prototype test was carried out against its segmental lining structure by using ＂multi-function shield tunnel structure test system＂. And the mechanical characteristics of segmental lining structure using straight assembling and staggered assembling were studied deeply. The results showed that, the mechanical characteristics of segmental lining structure varied with the water pressures; especially after cracking, the high water pressure played a significant role in slowing down the growing inner force and deformation. It also testi- fied that the failure characteristics varied with straight assembling structure and staggered assembling structure. Shear thilurc often occurred near longitudinal seam when using straight assembling.

Special ROV- Underwater Tunnel Inspector (UNTI)

1. Introduction Remotely operated vchicles (ROV) are advanced technical underwater operating equip-ment. They are whidely used in underwater engineering, underwater rescue and sea oil activities.General ROVs can work in deep water. But the horizontal working distance is limited. Atmaximal working depth they can usually move around the mother ship inside a circle with a di-

Novel numerical model to simulate water seepage through segmental gasketed joints of underwater shield tunnels considering the superimposed seepage squeezing effect

The water leakage through segmental joint gaskets has become a major concern that adversely affects the normal serviceability of underwater shield tunnels throughout the construction and operational periods.Therefore,it is of great significance to investigate the sealing performances of the joint gaskets,which directly helps evaluate the waterproof capacity of underwater shield tunnels.To date,the numerical modeling plays an irreplaceable role in the analysis on the waterproof capacity of the joint gaskets.Nevertheless,conventional methods tend to ignore the self-sealing effect induced by the water seepage pressurization,thus failing to reveal the progressive evolution of the water infiltration process through the joint gasket.To remedy this defect,this paper proposed a novel numerical model to simulate the penetration process of the sealing gasket based on the Python language-enabled secondary programming in the ABAQUS software,which could fully consider the superimposed seepage squeezing effect.Based on the proposed model,the waterproof failure process and the dynamic contact stress of the gasket’s water seepage path subject to excessive hydraulic pressure were thoroughly investigated.Moreover,indoor tests on the waterproof capacity of the gasket were also performed to validate the proposed model.It is found that the numerical results from the developed model are consistent with the experimental results.This research will contribute to better understanding of the gaskets’hydraulic penetration process and more accurate prediction of the maximum waterproof capacity in underwater shield tunnels.

Seepage flow around twin circular tunnels in anisotropic ground revealed by an analytical solution

A new analytical solution is proposed for steady seepage flow around twin circular tunnels in fully saturated anisotropic ground.The solution is an exact one that fully satisfies all the boundary conditions and precisely considers the different permeabilities along two direc-tions and the interactions between twin tunnels.The solution provides a fast approach for the estimation of the seepage field and a useful tool for design optimization.The solution is successfully addressed using problem equivalence and the Schwartz alternating method com-bined with a mapping function.Using a coordinate transformation of the governing equation,the anisotropic problem of circular tunnels is first equivalent to that of isotropic elliptical tunnels,and the length of the ellipse along the anisotropic axis depends on the anisotropic permeability ratio.The Schwartz alternating method is then employed to address the solution of equivalent elliptical twin tunnel prob-lems,where a mapping function,with which an elliptical tunnel in the half-plane can be mapped into an annulus in the image plane,is introduced to solve the single tunnel problems in each iterative step.The iterative procedure is quite simple and efficient in its calculations and achieves good convergence,and the analytical solution agrees very well with the numerical results to reflect its high precision in the entire ground.Finally,parametric studies are performed to investigate the influences of the anisotropic permeability and tunnel spacing on the seepage field.This is the first study to provide the exact analytical solution of the seepage field of twin tunnel problems in aniso-tropic ground,and the procedure can be extended to multiple tunnel problems.