مهندسی عمران شریف (Feb 2016)
EFFECT OF UNDERGROUND STRUCTURE LINING FLEXIBILITY ON ACCELERATION RESPONSE AT GROUND SURFACE
Abstract
Fast population growth in urban areas has resulted in a significant shortage of aboveground spaces and has led to an increase in underground structures. Different types of underground spaces and structures, including underground utility tunnels, subway tunnels, subway stations, underground shelters, culverts and etc., may exist in any large city. The presence of subsurface structures has static and dynamic interaction with their environment and adjacent constructions. Recently, the effect of underground structures on the acceleration response of the ground surface has attracted the attention of researchers, since it has been concluded that the presence of these subsurface structures also affects the seismic response of nearby ground.There are many parameters affecting the presence of underground structures on the acceleration response at the ground surface. These parameters include soil medium characteristics, excitation frequency and amplitude, tunnel diameter, depth of construction, and flexibility ratio of the lining. In this paper, a nonlinear numerical model was first verified against dynamic centrifuge test results performed at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) on an underground subway tunnel and, then, the effect of underground structure lining flexibility on the acceleration response at the ground surface was investigated. In this regard, the acceleration response at ground surface for three different materials of the lining was studied. From parametric studies, it was concluded that the same values of flexibility ratio for two tunnel systems with different lining material resulted in the same acceleration response at the ground surface. The flexibility of the lining affects the acceleration response at the ground surface; however, it depends on the frequency content of the input motion and the natural frequency of the system. Stiffer lining resulted in amplification of motions with short periods, which threatens short buildings, whereas, softer lining amplifies motion with longer periods, which can be dangerous for tall buildings. Therefore, the flexibility of the lining plays an important role in acceleration response at the nearby ground acceleration response.
