Evaluation of Soil Constitutive Model Effects on Numerical Modeling of Settlement Induced by Tunneling in Urban Area, Case Study of the Amirkabir Tunnel

Summary:

This paper reflects the role of different constitutive models on the deformations induced by tunneling in the urban area. These constitutive models were applied in finite element analysis of tunnel-induced subsidence for the case study of the Amirkabir Tunnel in Tehran. The results of this paper indicate that the numerical simulation of tunneling induced settlement with hardening soil small strain stiffness model is much more accurate than other constitutive models. 

Accurate prediction of tunneling induced settlement is one of the most important challenges encountered in urban underground projects. Generally, such predictions are usually obtained by the application of numerical simulation, where the accuracy of the results depends on several factors. The constitutive models play an indicative role in the accuracy of numerical simulation of tunneling induced settlement. This issue was studied by comparing the effect of different constitutive models on the development of ground deformations around the tunnel and the tunneling induced settlement for a case study.     

Methodology and Approaches:

Finite element analysis of tunneling induced deformations using PLAXIS software was performed for three different elastoplastic constitutive models including Mohr-Coulomb, hardening soil, and small strain hardening. The input data of numerical simulation were captured from different in-suite and laboratory tests on the host ground of the Amirkabir tunnel as a case study. Tunnel construction was modeled based on the as-built condition of the excavation stages of the T4 section of the Amirkabir tunnel. Finally, numerical results were compared and verified with monitoring results and field measurements.

Results showed that the Mohr-Coulomb model provides a lower prediction of vertical displacements comparing to two other implemented models. Furthermore, the Mohr-Coulomb model shows an unrealistic uplift of the tunnel floor after all of the excavation stages. Results illustrated that using hardening soil models, with sophisticated features including non-linearity pre-failure and high stiffness under small strain, considerably improves the prediction of displacements. It is observed that using hardening soil small strain stiffness model, the accuracy of predictions increased noticeably compared to the field measurements. A full comparison between the results from Mohr-Coulomb and Hardening Soil cases yields some important differences, which are presented in this paper.