Numerical investigation on the influence of the excavation rate on the mechanical response of deep tunnel fronts in cohesive soils

Abstract

In conventional tunnelling, under difficult ground conditions, the fronts are commonly stabilized by employing expensive and time-consuming soil reinforcement techniques. The design of these soil reinforcement techniques is commonly based on the analysis of unreinforced front mechanical response.

In a previous paper, the authors numerically analysed the mechanical response of deep tunnel fronts under undrained conditions and suggested the employment of a non-dimensional front characteristic curve. In this paper, the same approach is employed to study the influence of the excavation rate on the front response. The soil behaviour is modelled by employing the Modified Cam Clay model.