• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.417-426
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• 2024

Shield tunneling method is widely used to build tunnels in complex geological environment. Stability control of tunnel face is the key to the safety of projects. To improve the excavation efficiency or perform equipment maintenance, the excavation chamber sometimes is not fully filled with support medium, which can reduce the load and increase tunneling speed while easily lead to ground collapse. Due to the high risk of the face failure under non-fully support mode, the tunnel face stability should be carefully evaluated. Whether compressive air is required for compensation and how much air pressure should be provided need to be determined accurately. Based on the upper bound theorem of limit analysis, a non-fully support rotational failure model is developed in this study. The failure mechanism of the model is verified by numerical simulation. It shows that increasing the density of supporting medium could significantly improve the stability of tunnel face while the increase of tunnel diameter would be unfavorable for the face stability. The critical support ratio is used to evaluate the face failure under the nonfully support mode, which could be an important index to determine whether the specific unsupported height could be allowed during shield tunneling. To avoid of face failure under the non-fully support mode, several charts are provided for the assessment of compressed air pressure, which could help engineers to determine the required air pressure for face stability.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.47-51
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• 2013

In this study, we carried out an experimental shield TBM excavation model test using a down-scale device in soft clay, to understand tunnel-face stability properties in relation to changes in slurry pressure. We performed five tests according to tunnel depth (0.5D, 0.75D, 1.0D, 1.25D, 1.5D), and compared theoretical tunnel-face pressure with model test results. The range in theoretical tunnel-face slurry pressure ($P_{min}{\leq}P_{slurry\;pressure}{\leq}P_{max}$), which is determined by earth pressure and water level, was very similar to the model test result. This result was due to the more isotropic condition of the soft clay ground, than of rocky ground.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.321-329
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• 2022

Tunnel site where high water pressure is applied, such as subsea tunnel, generally selects the shield TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) to maintain the tunnel excavation face. The shield TBM has cutters installed, and the cutters wear out during the process of excavation, so it should be checked and replaced regularly. This is called CHI (Cutterhead Intervention). The conventional CHI under high water pressure is very disadvantageous in terms of safety and economics because humans perform work in response to high water pressure and huge water inflow in the chamber. To overcome this disadvantage, this study proposes a new method to dramatically reduce water pressure and water ingress by injecting an appropriate grout solution into the front of the tunnel face through the shield TBM chamber, called New Face Grouting Method (NFGM). The tunnel model tests were performed to determine the characteristics, injection volume, and curing time of grout solution to be applied to the NFGM. Model test apparatus was composed of a pressure soil tank, a model shield TBM, a grout tank, and an air compressor to measure the amount of water inflow into the chamber. The model tests were conducted by changing the injection amount of the grout solution, the curing time after the grout injection, and the water/cement ratio of grout solution. From an economic point of view, the results showed that the injection volume of 1.0 L, curing time of 6 hours, and water/cement ratio of the grout solution between 1.5 and 2.0 are the most economical. It can be concluded that this study has presented a method to economically perform the CHI under the high water pressure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.327-333
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• 2002

In this study, the effect of tunnel advance rate on the seepage forces acting on the tunnel face was studied. The finite element program to analyze the groundwater flow around a tunnel with the consideration of tunnel advance rate was developed. Using the program, the parametric study for the effect of the tunnel advance rate and hydraulic characteristics of the ground on the seepage forces acting on the tunnel face was studied. From this study, it was concluded that the tunnel advance rate must be taken into consideration as an additional parameter to assess the seepage forces at the tunnel face and a rational design methodology for the assessment of support pressures required for maintaining the stability of the tunnel face was suggested for underwater tunnels.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.471-492
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• 2016

Underground tunnelling is one of the sustainable construction methods which can facilitate the increasing passenger transportation in the urban areas and benefit the community in the long term. Tunnelling in various ground conditions requires careful consideration of the stability factor. This paper investigates three dimensional stability of a shallow circular tunnel in a layered soil. Upper bound theorem of limit analysis was utilised to solve the tunnel face stability problem. A three dimensional kinematic admissible failure mechanism was improved to model a layered soil and limiting assumptions of the previous studies were resolved. The study includes calculation of the minimum support pressure acting on the face of the excavation in closed-face excavations. The effects of the characteristics of the layers on the minimum support pressure were examined. It was found that the ratio of the thickness of cover layers particularly when a weak layer is overlying a stronger layer, has the most significant influence on the minimum tunnel support pressure. Comparisons have been made with the results of the numerical modelling using FLAC3D software. Results of the current study were in a remarkable agreement with those of numerical modelling.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.323-339
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• 2024

If the pressure exerted on the face of a tunnel excavated by TBM exceeds a threshold, it leads to failure of the soil or rock masses ahead of the tunnel face, which results in heaving the ground surface. In the current research, the upper bound method of limit analysis was employed to calculate the blow-out pressure of tunnels excavated in rock masses obeying the Hoek-Brown nonlinear criterion. The results of the proposed method were compared with three-dimensional finite element models, as well as the available methods in the literature. The results show that when σ_ci, m_i, and GSI increase, the blow-out pressure increases as well. By doubling the tunnel diameter, the blow-out pressure reduces up to 54.6%. Also, by doubling the height of the tunnel cover and the surcharge pressure exerted on the ground surface above the tunnel, the blow-out pressure increased up to 74.9% and 5.4%, respectively. With 35% increase in the unit weight of the rock mass surrounding the tunnel, the blow-out pressure increases in the range of 14.8% to 19.6%. The results of the present study were provided in simple design graphs that can easily be used in practical applications in order to obtain the blow-out pressure.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.186-192
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• 2018

The German Tunnelling Committee (DAUB) recently published new recommendations for face support calculations; Zdenek Zizka and Markus Thewes of Ruhr University Bochum actively discuss and explain these new recommendations where these recommendations are intended to assist in choosing between various calculation methods which are also dependent on ground conditions. The guidelines also discuss important scientific approaches with face stability calculations, mainly those due to earth pressure and groundwater pressure on the tunnel face. This paper aims to explain these recommendations through Zdenek Zizak and Markus Thewes's discussion on these Tunnel Face Support Calculation Methods.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.221-228
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• 2002

The stability of a tunnel face is one of the most important factors in tunnel excavation. Especially, if a tunnel is located under groundwater level, groundwater may flow into the tunnel face and seepage forces acting on the tunnel face due to groundwater flow may affect seriously the stability of the tunnel face. Therefore, the seepage pressure at the tunnel face should be considered fir the proper design and safe construction of a tunnel. In this paper, the effect of tunnel advance rate on the seepage forces acting on the tunnel face was studied. The finite element program to analyze the groundwater flow around a tunnel with the consideration of tunnel advance rate was developed. Using the program, the parametric study for the effect of the tunnel advance rate and hydraulic characteristics of the ground on the seepage forces acting on the tunnel face was made. From this study, it was concluded that the tunnel advance rate must betaken into consideration as an additional parameter to assess the seepage forces at the tunnel face and a rational design methodology fer the assessment of support pressures required for maintaining the stability of the tunnel face was suggested for undetwater tunnels.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.347-370
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• 2011

Slurry type shield would be very effective for the tunnelling in a sandy ground, when the slurry pressure would be properly adjusted. Low slurry pressure could cause a tunnel face failure or a ground settlement in front of the tunnel face. Thus, the stability of tunnel face could be maintained by applying an excess slurry pressure that is larger than the active earth pressure. However, the slurry pressure should increase properly because an excessively high slurry pressure could cause the slurry flow out or the passive failure of the frontal ground. It is possible to apply the high slurry pressure without passive failure if a horizontal impermeable layer is located in the ground in front of the tunnel face, but its location, size, and effects are not clearly known yet. In this research, two-dimensional model tests were carried out in order to find out the effect of a horizontal impermeable layer for the slurry shield tunnelling in a saturated sandy ground. In tests slurry pressure was increased until the slurry flowed out of the ground surface or the ground fails. Location and dimension of the impermeable layer were varied. As results, the maximum and the excess slurry pressure in sandy ground were linearly proportional to the cover depth. Larger slurry pressure could be applied to increase the stability of the tunnel face when the impermeable layer was located in the ground above the crown in front of the tunnel face. The most effective length of the impermeable grouting layer was 1.0 ~ 1.5D, and the location was 1.0D above the crown level. The safety factor could be suggested as the ratio of the maximum slurry pressure to the active earth pressure at the tunnel face. It could also be suggested that the slurry pressure in the magnitude of 3.5 ~4.0 times larger than the active earth pressure at the initial tunnel face could be applied if the impermeable layer was constructed at the optimal location.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.145-157
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• 2023

This paper aims at investigating the face stability of large-diameter underwater shield tunnels considering seepage in soft-hard uneven strata. Using the kinematic approach of limit upper-bound analysis, the analytical solution of limit supporting pressure on the tunnel face considering seepage was obtained based on a logarithmic spiral collapsed body in uneven strata. The stability analysis method of the excavation face with different soft- and hard-stratum ratios was explored and validated. Moreover, the effects of water level and burial depth on tunnel face stability were discussed. The results show the effect of seepage on the excavation face stability can be accounted as the seepage force on the excavation face and the seepage force of pore water in instability body. When the thickness ratio of hard soil layer within the excavation face exceeds 1/6D, the interface of the soft and hard soil layer can be placed at tunnel axis during stability analysis. The reliability of the analytical solution of the limit supporting pressure is validated by numerical method and literature methods. The increase of water level causes the instability of upper soft soil layer firstly due to the higher seepage force. With the rise of burial depth, the horizontal displacement of the upper soft soil decreases and the limit supporting pressure changes little because of soil arching effect.