Study on the tunnel shape and soil-lining interaction influencing the lining behavior under seismic loading

The response of tunnels subjected to seismic loading is a complex mechanism and depends not only on the seismic nature but also on tunnel structure and surrounding soil properties.The individual behavior of circular,rectangular,and sub-rectangular tunnels subjected to seismic loadings has already been studied in the literature.In the present research,two case scenarios of circular,rectangular tunnels and four sub-rectangular shaped tunnels,with similar cross-section areas,were adopted to perform a comprehensive numerical investigation.The purpose of the study was to determine the mechanical behavior of tunnels of different shapes,depending upon seismic conditions.Analyses were performed by considering the influence of soil-lining interaction,soil parameters,and lining thickness,as well as lining rigidity.Computations were performed for no-slip and full-slip conditions.The results indicate that the tunnel shape design is of great importance when regarding the mechanical behavior of the surrounding soil.This concerns no-slip as well as full-slip soil-lining interaction,especially when the lining is subjected to seismic loading.Moreover,it is shown that changes in incremental bending moments for circular,rectangular and sub-rectangular tunnels that depend upon the soil-lining interaction conditions differ significantly.

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.

Hyperstatic reaction method for calculations of tunnels with horseshoe-shaped cross-section under the impact of earthquakes

Tunnels are now an integral part of the infrastructure in major cities around the world. For many reasons, these tunnels have horseshoe-shaped cross-sections with round top and flat bottom. This paper presents some improvements to the use of the Hyperstatic Reaction Method-HRM for analysing tunnels with horseshoe-shaped cross-sections when these tunnels operate under the influence of earthquakes, particularly in cases when the tunnel lining is a continuous lining. The analysis used parameters of a tunnel from the Hanoi metro system, as well as parameters of the strongest earthquake that may occur in the central Hanoi area in the improved HRM and 2 D numerical methods using the ABAQUS software. On the basis of the results obtained, the paper gives conclusions about the HRM methodology when it is used to calculate tunnels that have horseshoe cross-sections operating under the influence of earthquakes.

Influences of the Helical Strake Cross-Section Shape on Vortex-Induced Vibrations Suppression for A Long Flexible Cylinder

An experimental study on a bare flexible cylinder as well as cylinders fitted with two types of cross-sectioned helical strakes was carried out in a towing tank. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of strakes’ cross-section on the vortex-induced vibrations （VIV） suppression of a flexible cylinder. The square-sectioned and round-sectioned helical strakes were selected in the experimental tests. The uniform current was generated by towing the cylinder models along the tank using a towing carriage. The Reynolds number was in the range of 800–16000. The strain responses were measured by the strain gages in cross-flow （CF） and in-line （IL） directions. A modal analysis method was adopted to obtain the displacement responses using the strain signals in different measurement positions. The comparison of the experimental results among the bare cylinder, square-sectioned straked cylinder and round-sectioned straked cylinder was performed. The helical strakes can effectively reduce the strain amplitude, displacement amplitude, response frequencies and dominant modes of a flexible cylinder excited by VIV. And the mean drag coefficients of straked cylinders were approximately consistent with each other. In addition, the square-sectioned and round-sectioned strakes nearly share the similar VIV reduction behaviors. Sometimes, the strakes with round-section represent more excellent effects on the VIV suppression of response frequency than those with square-section.

The Optimal Cross-section Design of the “Trapezoid-V” Shaped Drainage Canal of Viscous Debris Flow

Debris flow drainage canal is one of the most widely used engineering measures to prevent and manage debris flow hazards.The shape and the sizes of the cross-section are important parameters when design debris flow drainage canal.Therefore,how to design the appropriate shape and sizes of the cross-section so that the drainage canal can have the optimal drainage capacity is very important and few researched at home and abroad.This study was conducted to analyze the hydraulic condition of a Trapezoid-V shaped drainage canal and optimize its cross-section.By assuming characteristic sizes of the cross-section,the paper deduced the configuration parameter of the cross-section of a Trapezoid-V shaped debris flow drainage canal.By theory analysis,it indicates that the optimal configuration parameter is only related to the side slope coefficient and the bottom transverse slope coefficient.For this study,the Heishui Gully,a first-order tributary of the lower Jinsha River,was used as an example to design the optimal cross-section of the drainage canal of debris flow.

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.

Fabrication of High-Density Out-of-Plane Microneedle Arrays with Various Heights and Diverse Cross-Sectional Shapes

Out-of-plane microneedle structures are widely used in various applications such as transcutaneous drug delivery and neural signal recording for brain machine interface.This work presents a novel but simple method to fabricate high-density silicon(Si)microneedle arrays with various heights and diverse cross-sectional shapes depending on photomask pattern designs.The proposed fabrication method is composed of a single photolithography and two subsequent deep reactive ion etching(DRIE)steps.First,a photoresist layer was patterned on a Si substrate to define areas to be etched,which will eventually determine the final location and shape of each individual microneedle.Then,the 1st DRIE step created deep trenches with a highly anisotropic etching of the Si substrate.Subsequently,the photoresist was removed for more isotropic etching;the 2nd DRIE isolated and sharpened microneedles from the predefined trench structures.Depending on diverse photomask designs,the 2nd DRIE formed arrays of microneedles that have various height distributions,as well as diverse cross-sectional shapes across the substrate.With these simple steps,high-aspect ratio microneedles were created in the high density of up to 625 microneedles mm^(-2)on a Si wafer.Insertion tests showed a small force as low as~172μN/microneedle is required for microneedle arrays to penetrate the dura mater of a mouse brain.To demonstrate a feasibility of drug delivery application,we also implemented silk microneedle arrays using molding processes.The fabrication method of the present study is expected to be broadly applicable to create microneedle structures for drug delivery,neuroprosthetic devices,and so on.

Possible Nodeless Superconducting Gaps in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_(8+δ) and YBa_2Cu_3O_(7-x) Revealed by Cross-Sectional Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy

Pairing in the cuprate high-temperature superconductors and its origin remain among the most enduring mysteries in condensed matter physics. With cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy, we clearly reveal the spatial-dependence or inhomogeneity of the superconducting gap structure of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8＋δ （Bi2212） and YBa2Cu3O7-x （YBCO） along their c-axes on a scale shorter than the interlayer spacing. By tunneling into the （100） plane of a Bi2212 single crystal and a YBCO film, we observe both U-shaped tunneling spectra with extended fiat zero-conductance bottoms, and V-shaped gap structures, in different regions of each sample. On the YBCO film, tunneling into a （110） surface only reveals a U-shaped gap without any zero-bias peak. Our analysis suggests that the U-shaped gap is likely a nodeless superconducting gap. The V-shaped gap has a very small amplitude, and is likely proximity-induced by regions having the larger U-shaped gap.

Does the ratio of the carpal tunnel inlet and outlet cross-sectional areas in the median nerve reflect carpal tunnel syndrome severity?

Although ultrasound measurements have been used in previous studies on carpal tunnel syndrome to visualize injury to the median nerve, whether such ultrasound data can indicate the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome remains controversial. The cross-sectional areas of the median nerve at the tunnel inlet and outlet can show swelling and compression of the nerve at the carpal. We hypothesized that the ratio of the cross-sectional areas of the median nerve at the carpal tunnel inlet to outlet accurately reflects the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome. To test this, high-resolution ultrasound with a linear array transducer at 5–17 MHz was used to assess 77 patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. The results showed that the cut-off point for the inlet-to-outlet ratio was 1.14. Significant differences in the inlet-to-outlet ratio were found among patients with mild, moderate, and severe carpal tunnel syndrome. The cut-off point in the ratio of cross-sectional areas of the median nerve was 1.29 between mild and more severe（moderate and severe） carpal tunnel syndrome patients with 64.7% sensitivity and 72.7% specificity. The cut-off point in the ratio of cross-sectional areas of the median nerve was 1.52 between the moderate and severe carpal tunnel syndrome patients with 80.0% sensitivity and 64.7% specificity. These results suggest that the inlet-to-outlet ratio reflected the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome.

3D Ice Shape Description Method Based on BLSOM Neural Network

When checking the ice shape calculation software,its accuracy is judged based on the proximity between the calculated ice shape and the typical test ice shape.Therefore,determining the typical test ice shape becomes the key task of the icing wind tunnel tests.In the icing wind tunnel test of the tail wing model of a large amphibious aircraft,in order to obtain accurate typical test ice shape,the Romer Absolute Scanner is used to obtain the 3D point cloud data of the ice shape on the tail wing model.Then,the batch-learning self-organizing map(BLSOM)neural network is used to obtain the 2D average ice shape along the model direction based on the 3D point cloud data of the ice shape,while its tolerance band is calculated using the probabilistic statistical method.The results show that the combination of 2D average ice shape and its tolerance band can represent the 3D characteristics of the test ice shape effectively,which can be used as the typical test ice shape for comparative analysis with the calculated ice shape.

Optimization of Cross-sectional Shapes of the Bi-2223/Ag Wires before Flat Rolling

Rolling process plays an important role in the manufacture of Bi-based high temperature superconductor tapes, and the plastic flow regularities of the superconducting wires during deformation will directly affect the ultimate quality of the tapes. In order to investigate the effect of cross-sectional shapes before fiat rolling on the performance and homogeneity of the tapes, some numerical models of Bi-2223/Ag wires with different cross-sectional shapes including circular, square, elliptical and racetrack cross-sections are constructed during the rolling process. By comparing the relative density, logarithmic strain ratio and length-width ratio on the filaments, it is revealed that Bi-2223/Ag wire with special-shaped cross-section can achieve better conductivity than the round wire, in particular, the racetrack cross-sectional wire has the second best performance among four wires. Based on material processability and experimental condition, tri-pass racetrack drawing technique is employed to optimize the process and obtain racetrack cross-sectional wire. The rolling process of Bi-2223/Ag wire with racetrack cross-section causes more intensive deformation of filaments in the center of the tape and achieves the filaments with larger length-width ratio. Also, the deformation distribution of filaments verifies the numerical results. Consequently, the racetrack drawing technique can be utilized for a reference during the mechanical processing and to increase the current transmission capacities of Bi-2223/Ag tapes.

Optimal Cross-Sectional Shape of Gas/Air Ducts

In industrial plants, ships, and buildings, a large amount of gas and air ducts are applied for equipment connection, HVAC, medium transport, and exhaust, etc. These ducts can be designed in varied cross-sectional shapes, such as round or rectangle. The author reveals through geometric calculation of the duct cross-sectional shapes and engineering experiences that the round cross-section is an optimal shape in the duct system. The round duct has the shorter perimeter than the other cross-sectional shape ducts and the stronger structure in the same working condition. The material saving of the round duct due to the shorter perimeter is quantitatively determined. In the pater, it is shown that the round duct is economically attractive. The economic analysis for the material cost saving is illustrated by an example. For a long duct system, the material and material cost savings are significant. It is suggested that the round duct in the gas and air duct system should have priority as long as the field conditions are allowed. In the paper, the material cost saving is also converted to PW, AW, and FW used for LCC economic analysis.

The recirculation flow after different cross-section shaped high-rise buildings with applications to ventilation assessment and drag parameterization

The building cross-section shape significantly affects the flow characteristics around buildings,especially the recirculation region behind the high-rise building.Eight generic building shapes including square,triangle,octagon,T-shaped,cross-shaped,#-shaped,H-shaped and L-shaped are examined to elucidate their effects on the flow patterns,recirculation length L and areas A using computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulations with Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS)approach.The sizes and positions of the vortexes behind the buildings are found to be substantially affected by the building shapes and subsequently changing the recirculation flows.The recirculation length L is in the range of 1.6b-2.6b with an average of 2b.The maximum L is found for L-shaped building(2.6b)while the shortest behind octagon building(1.6b).The vertical recirculation area Av is in the range of 1.5b^(2)-3.2b^(2)and horizontal area Ah in 0.9b^(2)-2.2b^(2).The L,Av and Ah generally increase with increasing approaching frontal area when the wind direction changes but subject to the dent structures of the#-shaped and cross-shaped buildings.The area-averaged wind velocity ratio(AVR),which is proposed to assess the ventilation performance,is in the range of 0.05 and 0.14,which is around a three-fold difference among the different building shapes.The drag coefficient parameterized by Ah varies significantly,suggesting that previous models without accounting for building shape effect could result in large uncertainty in the drag predictions.These findings provide important reference for improving pedestrian wind environment and shed some light on refining the urban canopy parameterization by considering the building shape effect.

Analysis of the mass of behind-armor debris generated by RHA subjected to normal penetration of variable cross-section EFP

Analyzing the mass of behind-armor debris (BAD) generated by Rolled Homogeneous Armor (RHA) subjected to normal penetration of variable cross-section Explosively Formed Projectile (EFP) is the purpose of this paper. So theoretical analysis, numerical simulation and experimental data are combined to analyze the influence of variable cross-section characteristic on the time history of crater radius. Moreover the relationships between time history of crater radius (as well as mass of BAD) and the thickness of RHA (from 30mm to 70 mm) and the impact velocity of EFP (1650 m/s to 1860 m/s) are also investigated. The results indicate that: 1) being compared to the variable cross-section characteristic is ignored, the theoretical time history of crater radius is in better agreement with the simulation results when the variable cross-section characteristic is considered;2) being compared to the other three conditions of plug, the theoretical mass of BAD is in the best agreement with the simulation results when the shape of plug is frustum of a cone and the angle between generatrix and bottom is 45- and the axial length of mushroom is considered.

Mechanical Behavior and Shape Optimization of Lining Structure for Subsea Tunnel Excavated in Weathered Slot

Subsea tunnel lining structures should be designed to sustain the loads transmitted from surrounding ground and groundwater during excavation. Extremely high pore-water pressure reduces the effective strength of the country rock that surrounds a tunnel, thereby lowering the arching effect and stratum stability of the structure. In this paper, the mechanical behavior and shape optimization of the lining structure for the Xiang＇an tunnel excavated in weathered slots are examined. Eight cross sections with different geometric parameters are adopted to study the mechanical behavior and shape optimization of the lining structure. The hyperstatic reaction method is used through finite element analysis software ANSYS. The mechanical behavior of the lining structure is evidently affected by the geometric parameters of crosssectional shape. The minimum safety factor of the lining structure elements is set to be the objective function. The efficient tunnel shape to maximize the minimum safety factor is identified. The minimum safety factor increases significantly after optimization. The optimized cross section significantly improves the mechanical characteristics of the lining structure and effectively reduces its deformation. Force analyses of optimization process and program are conducted parametrically so that the method can be applied to the optimization design of other similar structures. The results obtained from this study enhance our understanding of the mechanical behavior of the lining structure for subsea tunnels. These results are also beneficial to the optimal design of lining structures in general.

Mechanical properties and influence mechanism of confined concrete arches in high-stress tunnels

Deep underground projects(e.g., coal mines), are often faced with complex conditions such as high stress and extremely soft rock. The strength and rigidity of the traditional support system are often insufficient,which makes it difficult to meet the requirements of ground control under complex conditions. As a new support form with high strength and rigidity, the confined concrete arch plays an important role in controlling the rock deformation under complex conditions. The section shape of the tunnel has an important impact on the mechanical properties and design of the support system. However, studies on the mechanical properties and influence mechanism of the new confined concrete arch are rarely reported. To this end, the mechanical properties of traditional U-shaped steel and new confined concrete arches are compared and comparative tests on arches of circular and straight-leg semicircular shapes in deep tunnels are conducted. A large mechanical testing system for underground engineering support structure is developed. The mechanical properties and influence mechanism of confined concrete arches with different section shapes under different loading modes and cross-section parameters are systematically studied. Test results show that the bearing capacity of the confined concrete arch is 2.10 times that of the U-shaped steel arch, and the bearing capacity of the circular confined concrete arch is 2.27 times that of the straight-leg semicircular arch. Among the various influencing factors and their engineering parameters,the lateral stress coefficient has the greatest impact on the bearing capacity of the confined concrete arch,followed by the steel pipe wall thickness, steel strength, and core concrete strength. Subsequently, the economic index of bearing capacity and cost is established, and the optimization design method for the confined concrete arch is proposed. Finally, this design method is applied to a high-stress tunnel under complex conditions, and the deformation of the surrounding rock is effectively controlled.

Determination of minimum overburden depth for underwater shield tunnel in sands:Comparison between circular and rectangular tunnels

With the development of global urbanization,the utilization of underground space is more critical and attractive for civil purposes.Various shapes of shield tunnels have been gradually proposed to cope with different geological conditions and service purposes of underground structures.Generally,reducing the burial depth of shield tunnel is conducive to construction and cost saving.However,extremely small overburden depth cannot provide sufficient uplift resistance to maintain the stability and serviceability of the tunnel.To this end,this paper firstly reviewed the status of deriving the minimum sand over-burden depth of circular shield tunnel using mechanical equilibrium(ME)method.It revealed that the estimated depth is rather conservative.Then,the uplift resistance mechanism of both circular and rectangular tunnels was deduced theoretically and verified with the model tests.The theoretical uplift resistance is consistent with the experimental values,indicating the feasibility of the proposed equations.Furthermore,the determination of the minimum soil overburden depth of rectangular shield tunnel under various working conditions was presented through integrated ME method,which can provide more reasonable estimations of suggested tunnel burial depth for practical construction.Additionally,optimizations were made for calculating the uplift resistance,and the soil thickness providing uplift resistance is suggested to be adjusted according to the testing results.The results can provide reference for the design and construction of various shapes of shield tunnels in urban underground space exploitation.

Optimization of ambipolar current and analog/RF performance for T-shaped tunnel field-effect transistor with gate dielectric spacer

A new T-shaped tunnel field-effect transistor(TTFET) with gate dielectric spacer(GDS) structure is proposed in this paper. To further studied the effects of GDS structure on the TTFET, detailed device characteristics such as current-voltage relationships, energy band diagrams, band-to-band tunneling(BTBT) rate and the magnitude of the electric field are investigated by using TCAD simulation. It is found that compared with conventional TTFET and TTFET with gate-drain overlap(GDO) structure, GDS-TTFET not only has the minimum ambipolar current but also can suppress the ambipolar current under a more extensive bias range. Furthermore, the analog/RF performances of GDS-TTFET are also investigated in terms of transconductance, gate-source capacitance, gate-drain capacitance, cutoff frequency, and gain bandwidth production. By inserting a low-κ spacer layer between the gate electrode and the gate dielectric, the GDS structure can effectively reduce parasitic capacitances between the gate and the source/drain, which leads to better performance in term of cutoff frequency and gain bandwidth production. Finally, the thickness of the gate dielectric spacer is optimized for better ambipolar current suppression and improved analog/RF performance.

Evolution of crescent-shaped sand dune under the influence of injected sand flux:scaling law and wind tunnel experiment

This paper studies the evolution of crescent-shaped dune under the influence of injected flux. A scaling law and a wind tunnel experiment are carried out for comparison. The experiment incorporates a novel image processing algorithm to recover the evolutionary process. The theoretical and experimental results agree well in the middle stage of dune evolution, but deviate from each other in the initial and final stages, suggesting that the crescent-shaped dune evolution is intrinsically scale-variant and that the crescent shape breaks down under unsaturated condition.

周边孔聚能装置间隔装药在光面爆破中的应用研究

隧道光面爆破工程的周边孔需要采用间隔装药方式,而大部分间隔装药方式采用“导爆索+雷管”联合起爆技术,此技术具有一定的局限性且经常发生拒爆现象。如何在保证隧道掘进效率的前提下提高光面爆破效果成为目前亟待解决的难题,从现场试验方面开展相关研究,提出“聚能装置+数码电子雷管”新型联合起爆技术,将其应用于高原某隧道,通过与原始的“导爆索+数码电子雷管”联合起爆技术的爆破后效果进行对比分析。实验结果表明:对比原始技术,新技术炸药单耗降低了0.2 kg/m^(3),半孔留痕率提高了5%,平均装药时间由原来的1.3 h降为1.0 h,稳定循环进尺的同时极大降低了耗材费用,提高了隧道光面爆破效果。