Undrained stability of a square tunnel where the shear strength increases linearly with depth

This paper investigates the stability of a plane strain square tunnel in undrained clay, where the shear strength profile increases linearly with depth. The stability for a range of tunnel geometries and soil conditions are found using rigid-block upper bound methods as well as finite element limit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Computers and geotechnics 2013-04, Vol.49, p.314-325
Main Authors: Wilson, Daniel W., Abbo, Andrew J., Sloan, Scott W., Lyamin, Andrei V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Exact solutions
Finite element methods
Geotechnics
Limit analysis
Mathematical analysis
Shear strength
Stability
Theorems
Tunnels
Tunnels (transportation)
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Summary:This paper investigates the stability of a plane strain square tunnel in undrained clay, where the shear strength profile increases linearly with depth. The stability for a range of tunnel geometries and soil conditions are found using rigid-block upper bound methods as well as finite element limit analysis. The latter procedures employ a discrete form of the bound theorems of classical plasticity, use a bespoke conic programming scheme to solve the resulting optimisation problems, and bracket the true collapse load with upper and lower bound solutions to within 5% for all the cases considered. Results from the parametric study are summarised in the form of stability charts. An approximate closed-form expression is developed for use by practising engineers.
ISSN:0266-352X
1873-7633
DOI:10.1016/j.compgeo.2012.09.005