Three-dimensional pseudo-dynamic reliability analysis of seismic shield tunnel faces combined with sparse polynomial chaos expansion

To address the seismic face stability challenges encountered in urban and subsea tunnel construction,an efficient probabilistic analysis framework for shield tunnel faces under seismic conditions is proposed.Based on the upper-bound theory of limit analysis,an improved three-dimensional discrete deterministic mechanism,accounting for the heterogeneous nature of soil media,is formulated to evaluate seismic face stability.The metamodel of failure probabilistic assessments for seismic tunnel faces is constructed by integrating the sparse polynomial chaos expansion method(SPCE)with the modified pseudo-dynamic approach(MPD).The improved deterministic model is validated by comparing with published literature and numerical simulations results,and the SPCE-MPD metamodel is examined with the traditional MCS method.Based on the SPCE-MPD metamodels,the seismic effects on face failure probability and reliability index are presented and the global sensitivity analysis(GSA)is involved to reflect the influence order of seismic action parameters.Finally,the proposed approach is tested to be effective by a engineering case of the Chengdu outer ring tunnel.The results show that higher uncertainty of seismic response on face stability should be noticed in areas with intense earthquakes and variation of seismic wave velocity has the most profound influence on tunnel face stability.

Seismic reliability analysis of shield tunnel faces under multiple failure modes by pseudo-dynamic method and response surface method

In order to investigate the stability problem of shield tunnel faces subjected to seismic loading,the pseudodynamic method(P-DM)was employed to analyze the seismic effect on the face.Two kinds of failure mechanisms of active collapse and passive extrusion were considered,and a seismic reliability model of shield tunnel faces under multifailure mode was established.The limit analysis method and the response surface method(RSM)were used together to solve the reliability of shield tunnel faces subjected to seismic action.Comparing with existing results,the results of this work are effective.The effects of seismic load and rock mass strength on the collapse pressure,extrusion pressure and reliability index were discussed,and reasonable ranges of support pressure of shield tunnel faces under seismic action were presented.This method can provide a new idea for solving the shield thrust parameter under the seismic loading.

A holistic examination of the load rating design of longwall shields after more than half a century of mechanised longwall mining

It is a commonly asked question:how big should the longwall shields be? The answer is a key aspect of a longwall mining feasibility study when the consequences of inadequately rated shields are considered.This paper addresses this question based on the measured nature of the loading environment in which shields are required to operate,the various geological and geometrical controls of that environment and the various links between their load rating,a range of other relevant shield design factors and the loss event they are required to prevent a major roof collapse on the longwall face.The paper concludes that despite the tremendous advances that have been made in shield design and load rating over the past50 years,the same drivers that caused longwall miners of the past to seek improved roof control on the longwall face via the use of ever-higher rated shields,are still as relevant today.However at the current time,the limits of the largest available longwall shields have yet to be tested,therefore industry focus for the foreseeable future should possibly be in achieving the maximum level of roof control on the face via their optimum operational use rather than considering further shield rating increases and incurring the inevitable downsides in terms of capital cost and shield weight.

Technologically Advanced Reusable 3D Face Shield for Health Workers Confronting COVID19

The probability of medical staff to get affected from COVID19 is much higher due to their working environment which is more exposed to infectious diseases.So,as a preventive measure the body temperature monitoring of medical staff at regular intervals is highly recommended.Infrared temperature sensing guns have proved its effectiveness and therefore such devices are used to monitor the body temperature.These devices are either used on hands or forehead.As a result,there are many issues in monitoring the temperature of frontline healthcare professionals.Firstly,these healthcare professionals keep wearing PPE(Personal Protective Equipment)kits during working hours and as a result it would be very difficult to monitor their body temperature.Secondly,these healthcare professionals also wear face shields and in such cases monitoring temperature by exposing forehead needs removal of face shield.Doing so after regular intervals is surely uncomfortable for healthcare professionals.To avoid such issues,this paper is disclosing a technologically advanced face shield equipped with sensors capable of monitoring body temperature instantly without the hassle of removing the face shield.This face shield is integrated with a built-in infrared temperature sensor.A total of 10 such face shields were printed and assembled within the university lab and then handed over to a group of ten members including faculty and students of nursing and health science department.This sequence was repeated four times and as a result 40 healthcare workers participated in the study.Thereafter,feedback analysis was conducted on questionnaire data and found a significant overall mean score of 4.59 out of 5 which indicates that the product is effective and worthy in every facet.Stress analysis is also performed in the simulated environment and found that the device can easily withstand the typically applied forces.The limitations of this product are difficulty in cleaning the product and comparatively high cost due to the deployment of electronic equipment.

Surface Modifications of Cellulose Acetate Film for the Application of Face Shield

During the COVID-19 pandemic, personal protective equipment (PPE) has become crucial to protect humans from the transmission of the virus. The face shield is a simple and effective PPE to prevent the viral and bacterial contact. Since COVID-19 is known to be spread via respiratory droplets, the face shield has become increasingly important PPE. However, the common materials used in face shields are synthetic, environmentally unfriendly polymers, which cause an accumulation of plastic waste once disposed. Cellulose acetate (CA) can be used as an alternative for face shield films due to its ability to decompose safely in the environment;however, pristine CA cannot serve as an effective face shield due to its low hydrophobicity. In this research, the somewhat hydrophilic character of CA with a water contact angle of 55° is experimented on: hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) is utilized to improve the hydrophobicity of CA up to a water contact angle of 77°. After the oxidization of the surface of CA via oxygen plasma, implementing HMDS shows a significant increase in hydrophobicity of the film.

Model test and discrete element method simulation of shield tunneling face stability in transparent clay

The stability of the shield tunneling face is an extremely important factor affecting the safety of tunnel construction.In this study,a transparent clay with properties similar to those of Tianjin clay is prepared and a new transparent clay model test apparatus is developed to overcome the“black box”problem in the traditional model test.The stability of the shield tunneling face(failure mode,influence range,support force,and surface settlement)is investigated in transparent clay under active failure.A series of transparent clay model tests is performed to investigate the active failure mode,influence range,and support force of the shield tunneling face under different burial depth conditions,whereas particle flow code three-dimensional numerical simulations are conducted to verify the failure mode of the shield tunneling face and surface settlement along the transverse section under different burial depth conditions.The results show that the engineering characteristics of transparent clay are similar to those of soft clay in Binhai,Tianjin and satisfy visibility requirements.Two types of failure modes are obtained:the overall failure mode(cover/diameter:C/D£1.0)and local failure mode(C/D≥2.0).The influence range of the transverse section is wider than that of the longitudinal section when C/D≥2.0.Additionally,the normalized thresholds of the relative displacement and support force ratio are 3%-6%and 0.2-0.4,respectively.Owing to the cushioning effect of the clay layer,the surface settlement is significantly reduced as the tunnel burial depth increases.

Novel combined shield design for eye and face protection from COVID-19

The World Health Organization emphasized the importance of goggles and face shields for protection of medical personnel at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.Unsurprisingly,almost all countries suffered from a critical supply shortage of goggles and face shields,as well as many other types of personal protective equipment(PPE),for a long period,owing to the lack of key medical material supplies and the inefficiency of existing fabrication methods arising from the need to avoid crowds during the outbreak of COVID-19.In this paper,we propose a novel combined shield design for eye and face protection that can be rapidly fabricated using three-dimensional printing technology.The designed prototype eye-face shield is accessible to the general public,offering more possibilities for yield improvement in PPE during emergent infectious disease events such as COVID-19.