Stability evaluation method of large cross-section tunnel considering modification of thickness-span ratio in mechanized operation

Purpose-This study aims to research the large cross-section tunnel stability evaluation method corrected after considering the thickness-span ratio.Design/methodology/approach-First,taking the Liuyuan Tunnel of Huanggang-Huangmei High-Speed Railway as an example and taking deflection of the third principal stress of the surrounding rock at a vault after tunnel excavation as the criterion,the critical buried depth of the large section tunnel was determined.Then,the strength reduction method was employed to calculate the tunnel safety factor under different rock classes and thickness-span ratios,and mathematical statistics was conducted to identify the relationships of the tunnel safety factor with the thickness-span ratio and the basic quality(BQ)index of the rock for different rock classes.Finally,the influences of thickness-span ratio,groundwater,initial stress of rock and structural attitude factors were considered to obtain the corrected BQ,based on which the stability of a large cross-section tunnel with a depth of more than 100 m during mechanized operation was analyzed.This evaluation method was then applied to Liuyuan Tunnel and Cimushan No.2 Tunnel of Chongqing Urban Expressway for verification.Findings-This study shows that under different rock classes,the tunnel safety factor is a strict power function of the thickness-span ratio,while a linear function of the BQ to some extent.It is more suitable to use the corrected BQ as a quantitative index to evaluate tunnel stability according to the actual conditions of the site.Originality/value-The existing industry standards do not consider the influence of buried depth and span in the evaluation of tunnel stability.The stability evaluation method of large section tunnel considering the correction of overburden span ratio proposed in this paper achieves higher accuracy for the stability evaluation of surrounding rock in a full or large-section mechanized excavation of double line high-speed railway tunnels.

Aerodynamic effects on a railway tunnel with partially changed cross-sectional area

The present study numerically explored the aerodynamic performance of a novel railway tunnel with a partially reduced cross-section.The impact of the reduction rate of the tunnel cross-section on wave transmissions was analyzed based on the three-dimensional,unsteady,compressible,and RNG k-εturbulence model.The results highlight that the reduction rate(S)most affects pressure configurations at the middle tunnel segment,followed by the enlarged segments near access,and finally the exit.The strength of the newly generated compression wave at the tunnel junction where the cross-section abruptly changes increases exponentially with the decrease of the cross-sectional area.The maximum peak-to-peak pressureΔP on the tunnel and train surface for non-uniform tunnels is reduced by 10.7%and 13.8%,respectively,compared with those of equivalent uniform tunnels.Overall,the economic analysis suggests that the aerodynamic performance of the developed tunnel prototype surpasses those conventional tunnels based on the same excavated volume.

Analytical study on pretensioned bolt-cable combined support of large cross-section tunnel

To study the mechanical responses of large cross-section tunnel reinforced by pretensioned rock bolts and anchor cables, an analytical model is proposed. Considering the interaction between rock mass and bolt-cable support, the strain softening characteristic of rock mass, the elastic-plastic characteristic of bolt-cable support, and the delay effect of installation are considered in the model. To solve the different mechanical cases of tunneling reinforced by bolt-cable support, an analytical approach has been put forward to get the solutions of stress and displacement associated with tunneling. The proposed analytical model is verified by numerical simulation. Moreover, parametric analysis is performed to study the effects of pretension force,cross-section area, length, and supporting density of bolt-cable support on tunnel reinforcement, which can provide references for determining these parameters in tunnel design. Based on the analytical model, a new Ground Response Curve(GRC)considering the reinforcement of bolt-cable support is obtained, which shows the pretension forces and the timely installation are important in bolt-cable support. In addition, the proposed model is applied to the analysis of the Great Wall Station Tunnel, a high-speed railway tunnel with a super large cross-section, which shows that the analytical model of bolt-cable support was a useful tool for preliminary design of large cross-section tunnel.