Mechanical Responses of Slurry Shield Underpassing Existing Bridge Piles in Upper-Soft and Lower-Hard Composite Strata

Abstract

With the development of urban metro systems, shield tunnels that pass through existing bridge pile foundations have become an inevitable engineering problem. Therefore, ensuring the stability of the strata and existing bridge piles during tunnel construction is a common goal in engineering practice. Currently, research on the mechanical responses of strata and existing piles under different conditions of upper-soft and lower-hard composite strata during shield tunneling has not been conducted extensively. This paper presents a numerical simulation of a shield tunnel passing through an existing bridge pile foundation in upper-soft and lower-hard composite strata. Subsequently, the surface subsidence and mechanical responses of a single pile were analyzed and evaluated. Additional stresses generated in the soil by existing bridge piles and the selection of grouting pressure were considered to optimize the driving pressure of the slurry shield. Allowable values were proposed to evaluate the construction disturbances caused by the tunnel excavation. The results show that the disturbance to the soil and existing piles is significantly influenced by the hard-rock height ratio, and the surface subsidence increases when the hard-rock height ratio decreases. The displacement and internal force of a single pile are significantly influenced by the load applied to the pile. This study demonstrates the changes in the mechanical responses of a single pile during shield tunnel boring, and provides in-depth insights into the deformation control caused by shield underpassing structures in upper-soft and lower-hard composite strata.

Keywords

• shield tunnel
• existing bridge piles
• mechanical response
• driving pressure
• grouting pressure
• composite strata