Exploring the feasibility of prestressed anchor cables as an alternative to temporary support in the excavation of super-large-span tunnel

Excavating super-large-span tunnels in soft rock masses presents significant challenges.To ensure safety,the sequential excavation method is commonly adopted.It utilizes internal temporary supports to spatially partition the tunnel face and divide the excavation into multiple stages.However,these internal supports generally impose spatial constraints,limiting the use of large-scale excavation equipment and reducing construction efficiency.To address this constraint,this study adopts the“Shed-frame”principle to explore the feasibility of an innovative support system,which aims to replace internal supports with prestressed anchor cables and thus provide a more spacious working space with fewer internal obstructions.To evaluate its effectiveness,a field case involving the excavation of a 24-m span tunnel in soft rock is presented,and an analysis of extensive field data is conducted to study the deformation characteristics of the surrounding rock and the mechanical behavior of the support system.The results revealed that prestressed anchor cables integrated the initial support with the shed,creating an effective“shed-frame”system,which successively maintained tunnel deformation and frame stress levels within safe regulatory bounds.Moreover,the prestressed anchor cables bolstered the surrounding rock effectively and reduced the excavation-induced disturbance zone significantly.In summary,the proposed support system balances construction efficiency and safety.These field experiences may offer valuable insights into the popularization and further development of prestressed anchor cable support systems.

Reliability analysis of prestressed anchors in rock slopes of open-pit mines

Prestressed anchor cables are widely used for slope reinforcement,but the loss of prestress makes it difficult to guarantee the reinforcement effect.Anchor cable prestress degradation was considered as a stochastic process,and the probability density function of this process was established using gamma theory and impact theory respectively.Combined with the failure threshold,the probability density was integrated to find the time-dependent reliability of the anchor cable.Based on the monitoring data of the prestress degradation of the anchor cable,parameters in the probability density function were solved by the maximum likelihood method,and the time-varying reliability and service life of the anchor cable were obtained analytically.The applicability of two degradation theories,gamma stochastic process and impact theory,was compared.The results showed that the probability density curves of both degradation models were normally distributed and the error of reliability results did not exceed 0.06.The life prediction results of the gamma stochastic process were closer to the actual life of 400 h than the 500 h of the impact theory,and the probability curves of the anchor cable life also indicated that the impact theory overestimated the service life probability of the anchor cable.Taking the anchor cable reinforcement within the slope of the Dagushan open-pit mine as an example,and the results verify the feasibility of using gamma theory to predict the degradation of anchor cables and provides theoretical support for prevention of the degradation of anchor cables in the slope of an open-pit mine under the action of external forces.

ANALYSIS ON INCREMENTAL COHESION OF SURROUNDING ROCK DUE TO PRESTRESSED CABLE ANCHOR

A new method for determining the incremental cohesion △Cm of surrounding rock due to prestressed cable anchor is presented, and the formulas for △Cm are deduced and △Cm distributions also are discussed, based on the two anchorage effects, one is the effect with the prestressed vaIue △σ3 of cable anchor improving the stress state of surrounding rock and increasing the surrounding rock strength, the other is the fully encapsulated effect. The determined incremental cohesion △Cm is subiected to the model test and field measurement in the references, and coincides well with those tested results. The formulas for △Cm can be used in designing supoport parameters and related numerical analyses of prestressed cable anchor.