Endurance time history analysis of the seismic behavior and performance assessment of hydro-chemo-mechanical degradation-affected hydraulic tunnels with service time

Abstract

Subjected to the coupling action of multiple hazards in hydraulic engineering, hydraulic tunnels may be corroded and damaged to varying degrees during their service lives, which will decrease the seismic performance of these structures. However, the research and seismic design of significant hydraulic engineering projects focus on investigating the structural response based on the design material parameters, which may overestimate the seismic capacity of structures during their service lives. In this paper, research is performed to identify the effect of hydro-chemo-mechanical corrosion on the seismic performance of hydraulic tunnels with different burial depths. A plastic damage model of time-varying concrete degradation induced by the hydro-chemo-mechanical effect is first determined and implemented, and the endurance time acceleration records are generated in MATLAB. Then, a study of the endurance time relationship of hydro-chemo-mechanical corrosion-affected hydraulic tunnels, considering the fluid–structure-surrounding rock interaction systems throughout the service period, is undertaken to directly associate the structural response with the predefined evaluation index. Moreover, this research constructs 3D time-varying fragility surfaces considering the hydro-chemo-mechanical effect and seismic intensity. The results show that the relative displacement of hydro-chemo-mechanical corrosion-affected hydraulic tunnels is larger than that of nonaffected hydraulic tunnels. Hydro-chemo-mechanical effect-induced material deterioration will lead to an increase in the cumulative damage (crack) area and damage degree of hydraulic tunnels. Additionally, the seismic fragility analysis shows that the longer the service time of hydro-chemo-mechanical corrosion-affected hydraulic tunnels, the more likely they are to collapse. Hence, attention should be given to improving the aseismic capacity of hydro-chemo-mechanical corrosion-affected hydraulic tunnels in future seismic design and performance assessments.