The role of building position on the response of buildings to tunnelling subsidence

Abstract

The potential damage caused by tunnel excavations to surface buildings can be effectively investigated by centrifuge testing. However, for practical reasons only a limited number of geometrical configurations can be tested in a geotechnical centrifuge. Therefore, numerical modelling provides an essential tool to generalise the laboratory results. This paper illustrates the performance of a 2D finite element model of masonry buildings subjected to tunnelling in sand. The results of the first series of centrifuge tests performed on complex 3D printed masonry structures and presented in the companionpaper were used for the model validation. The model includes nonlinear constitutive laws for both the soil and the building. Differently than previous works, this paper focuses on the accurate simulation of the building response by using structural parameters specifically defined for the assessment of building deformations. The results provide insights into the effect of different building positions relative to the tunnel on the structural response. The validated model can be used to investigate the effect of different building conditions on the soil-structure interaction mechanism.