Investigation of Lateral and Longitudinal Deformation of Submarine Nuclear Power Plant Water-Intake Tunnel on Non-Uniform Soft Soil during Earthquake

Abstract

The safety-grade water-intake immersed tunnel plays a vital role in the nuclear power cooling system, and its seismic safety is crucial. This paper employs the response displacement method and dynamic time-history analysis using the finite element software ANSYS to construct a beam–spring model and a 3D finite element model of a shield tunnel and foundation. It also develops equivalent linear dynamic constitutive and viscoelastic boundary element subprograms. This study focuses on the weak joint sections of immersed tunnels, conducting a seismic performance analysis under extreme safety earthquake conditions (SL-2). The results indicate that the joint stiffness of immersed tunnels and the increase in seismic peak values do not affect the trend of joint opening variation with longitudinal position. The change in joint opening is primarily located where the thickness of the cover layer changes abruptly or where the soil hardness is unevenly distributed. The joint opening is mainly influenced by seismic forces when considering static and dynamic superposition. When the stiffness of the joint GINA water stop exceeds a certain value, the correlation between stiffness change and joint compression–tension variation gradually weakens. This research can provide a reference for the seismic design of similar projects.

Keywords

• immersed tunnels
• seismic analysis
• response displacement method
• time-history analysis method
• joint opening