Predicting Ground Settlement Due to Symmetrical Tunneling through an Energy Conservation Method

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Abstract
This paper presents an analytical method using the energy conservation principle to predict ground settlement due to symmetrically shaped tunnel construction in elastic ground conditions. Ground settlement is calculated by balancing the energy in shearing the soil, the work done by gravity, and the negative work done along the tunnel boundary. The proposed method was validated by finite-difference numerical simulations. According to the simulations, it was found that the direction of maximum shear stress under shear strain extension (SSE) was opposite to that under shear strain compression (SSC). The energy in shearing the soil can be obtained by using both the differential of ground displacement, and the fitted expression of maximum shear strain. Subsequently, ground deformation was predicted by the proposed method under three different conditions, and then compared with numerical results. Specific cases of ground settlement due to tunneling can be predicted by the proposed method, using the differential of the proposed empirical solutions. Ground settlements calculated by fitted expressions of maximum shear strain were closer to numerical results than those calculated by differentials. Deriving an empirical equation of maximum engineering shear strain from fitted expressions may be an innovative way for the proposed method to predict ground settlement.
Funding Information
  • Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under Grant (2016JBZ009)
  • Chinese National Natural Science Foundation under Grant (51678035)

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