An investigation on tunnel deformation behavior of expressway tunnels

The magnitude and distribution of tunnel deformation were widely discussed topics in tunnel engineering. In this paper, a three-dimensional (3D) finite element program was used for the analysis of various horseshoe-shaped opening expressway tunnels under different geologies. Two rock material models — Mohr-Coulomb and Hoek-Brown were executed in the process of analyses; and the results show that the magnitude and distribution of tunnel deformation were close by these two models. The tunnel deformation behaviors were relevant to many factors such as cross-sections and geological conditions; but the geology was the major factor to the normalized longitudinal deformation profile (LDP). If the time-dependent factors were neglected, the maximum displacements were located at the distance of 3 to 4 tunnel diameters behind the excavation face. The ratios of displacement at the excavation face to the maximum displacement were around 1/3 to 1/2. In general, the weaker the rock mass, the larger the ratio. The displacements in front of the excavation face were decreased with the increasement of distance. At the distance of 1.0 to 1.5 tunnel diameter, the displacements were reduced to one-tenth of the maximum displacement.