Isogeometric Analysis of Longitudinal Displacement of a Simplified Tunnel Model Based on Elastic Foundation Beam

Serious uneven settlement of the tunnel may directly cause safety problems.At this stage,the deformation of the tunnel is predicted and analyzed mainly by numerical simulation,while the commonly used finite element method(FEM)uses low-order continuous elements.Therefore,the accuracy of tunnel settlement prediction is not enough.In this paper,a method is proposed to study the vertical deformation of the tunnel by using the combination of isogeometric analysis(IGA)and Bézier extraction operator.Compared with the traditional IGA method,this method can be easily integrated into the existing FEM framework,and ensure the same accuracy.A numerical example of an elastic foundation beam subjected to uniformly distributed load and an engineering example of an equivalent elastic foundation beamof the tunnel are given.The results show that the solution of the IGA method is closer to the theoretical solution of the initial-parameter method than the FEM,and the accuracy and reliability of the proposedmodel are verified.Moreover,it not only provides some theoretical support for the longitudinal design of the tunnel,but also provides a new way for the application and popularization of IGA in tunnel engineering.

Soil-Structure Interaction Analysis of Jack-up Platforms Subjected to Monochrome and Irregular Waves

As jack-up platforms have recently been used in deeper and harsher waters, there has been an increasing demand to understand their behaviour more accurately to develop more sophisticated analysis techniques. One of the areas of significant development has been the modelling of spudean performance, where the load-displacement behaviour of the foundation is required to be included in any numerical model of the structure. In this study, beam on nonlinear winkler foundation （BNWF） modeling--which is based on using nonlinear springs and dampers instead of a continuum soil media--is employed for this purpose. A regular monochrome design wave and an irregular wave representing a design sea state are applied to the platform as lateral loading. By using the BNWF model and assuming a granular soil under spudcans, properties such as soil nonlinear behaviour near the structure, contact phenomena at the interface of soil and spudcan （such as uplifting and rocking）, and geometrical nonlinear behaviour of the structure are studied. Results of this study show that inelastic behaviour of the soil causes an increase in the lateral displacement at the hull elevation and permanent unequal settlement in soil below the spudcans, which are increased by decreasing the friction angle of the sandy soil. In fact, spudeans and the underlying soil cause a relative fixity at the platform support, which changes the dynamic response of the structure compared with the case where the structure is assumed to have a fixed support or pinned support. For simulating this behaviour without explicit modelling of soil-structure interaction （SSI）, moment- rotation curves at the end of platform legs, which are dependent on foundation dimensions and soil characteristics, are obtained. These curves can be used in a simplified model of the platform for considering the relative fixity at the soil- foundation interface.

Gateside packwall design in solid backfill mining-A case study

Based upon characteristic movement features of the overlying strata in solid backfill mining and in-situ observations,an associated model representing a roadway support system has been developed.Based on the Winkler foundation and beam model,the current study presents a static analysis of the model,thus permitting acquisition of a theoretical formula pertaining to roof convergence.Through use of working face 6304-1(Jisan Colliery) as the research setting,the association between roof convergence magnitude and both packwall strength and width have been elucidated.Based upon observed conditions at the working face,realistic packwall parameters have been formulated,with numerical simulation results and field application results indicating that design parameters garnered from the developed formula successfully adapted to local geological movement and deformation.Accordingly,roadway deformation was shown to be within the permissible range,thus satisfying mine production requirements.The proposed method in the current study may give a design basis for pack design in the context of SBM under similar conditions.