Seismic Response Characteristics of a Utility Tunnel Crossing a River Considering Hydrodynamic Pressure Effects

Abstract

As a long lifeline system of buried structures, the utility tunnel (UT) is vulnerable to earthquake invasion. For utility tunnels with inverted siphon arrangements crossing rivers, the seismic response is more complex due to the basin effect of acceleration in the topography and the influence of fluctuating hydrodynamic pressure, but there is currently a gap in targeted seismic response analyses and references. Based on a UT project in Haikou, this paper studied seismic responses of a cast-in-place UT considering the coupled model of water–soil–tunnel structure on ABAQUS software. Herein, the dynamic fluctuation of hydrodynamic pressure is simulated using an acoustic–solid interaction model. A viscoelastic artificial boundary was used to simulate the soil boundary effect, and seismic loads were equivalent to nodal forces. Considering seismic invading direction and varying water elevation, this paper investigates the dynamic response characteristics and damage mechanisms of river-crossing utility tunnels. This study shows that the basin effect causes the soil acceleration around the UT to show variability in different sections, and the amplification factor of the peak acceleration at the central location is almost doubled. The damage and dynamic water pressure of the UT are intensified under bidirectional seismic excitation, and the damage location is concentrated at the junction of the horizontal section and the vertical section. Bending moments and axial forces are the main mechanical behaviors along the axial direction. Changes in river levels have a certain positive effect on the UT peak MISES, DAMAGEC, and SDEG, and it exhibits a certain degree of energy dissipation and seismic damping effect. For the aseismic design of cross-river cast-in-place utility tunnels, bidirectional seismic calculations should be performed, and the influence of river hydrodynamic pressure should not be neglected.

Keywords

• utility tunnel
• crossing river
• seismic response characteristics
• 3D numerical simulation
• hydrodynamic pressure
• damage mechanism