Estimation of surface settlement in Niayesh subway tunnel using empirical, numerical methods and real settlements

Nowadays urban transportation is one of the most important problem in the large cities. The best way to reduce this problem is to use the underground tunnels. The excavation of tunnel and other underground structures lead to remove a part of insitu rock and soil masses and the considerable changes in stress conditions around them and surface settlement has been occurred, consequently. Therefore, estimation of surface settlement due to the tunnel excavation, especially in urban areas, is of great importance. The Niayesh subway tunnel was built in the northern part of Tehran and it includes north and south tunnels. From a geological point of view, the Niayesh highway tunnels are mostly placed in the Hezar Dareh Formation (A) and also some parts especially the eastern and middle parts of north tunnel are placed in Kahrizak Formation (Bn). The tunnels have been excavated by the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM). In this method, primary shotcrete applied as a short-term support and the final lining is used to satisfy final support. In this paper, surface settlement has been studied by empirical methods, numerical analysis and real settlements. For the empirical and numerical methods, O’Reilly and New (1982) method and finite element method by PLAXIS2D software have been used, respectively. The five sections (CS-1 to CS-5) have been selected in order to study the surface settlement during Niayesh tunnel excavation. On the basis of the achieved results, the numerical method in all sections (except section 3) is in agreement with the real settlements. However, empirical methods have estimated the settlements more than real settlements in these sections. Also, the achieved results from real settlements, empirical methods and numerical analysis show that the maximum settlement due to tunnel excavation is more than allowable settlement and it places in the warning range.