A Review of Seven Tunnel Face Stability Models

Abstract

This paper presents a review of selected tunnel stability models that have been developed and used in calculating the minimum tunnel face pressure as described by original authors. Furthermore, this paper provides a comparison of required tunnel face pressure obtained from analytical models, based either on limit equilibrium method or the limit analysis method (upper bound theorem) and numerical models using the finite element method. The numerical results are presented in charts for the comparative study to discuss the influence of cover depth to tunnel diameter ratio (C/D), internal friction of the soil (φ), and cohesion (c) on normalized support pressure (pu/γD) for each model. To verify the accuracy of the selected models, a comparison of the results of seven tunnel stability models with the results of the physical models is carried out. In a ground composed of two layers, a comparison of the required tunnel face pressure is presented. The results show that the wedge–silo models provide higher support pressure than the conical block models. Moreover, the support pressure using the conical block models is only dependent on the friction angle and not on the C/D ratio. Finally, the results of wedge-silo models indicate more significant dependence of the required support pressure on the C/D ratio especially for the lower friction angle.

Keywords

• support pressure
• tunnel face stability
• shallow tunnel
• layered soil