Presentation of analytical solutions for seismically induced tunnel lining forces accounting for soil-structure interaction effects

Abstract

Recently, as the structural design has shifted to the performance design, seismic design of tunnel structures considering soil-structure interaction becomes more important. The effects of soil-structure interaction should not be overlooked for the reason that the interaction effects between a structure and surrounding ground may cause larger external forces to the structure. It has been highlighted that the relative rigidity between the soil and the structure is the predominant factor influencing the soil-structure interaction effects. With an aim to study the effects of tunnel-ground interaction, a number of analyses were carried out in this work, based on the most frequently used analytical expressions for evaluation of seismically induced stress increment in a tunnel lining accounting for the soil-structure interaction effects. These solutions are functions of the shear strain field which is the cause of the ovaling of the circular tunnel cross-section. A value of the average soil shear strain in the range of depths corresponding to the tunnel section, between the tunnel crown and the invert, has been computed through a free-field one-dimensional seismic site response analysis preformed by the code EERA. Various levels of analysis have been undertaken on different soil conditions, considering representative of two main soil classes - stiff soil of good conditions and soft saturated soil of poor conditions, as well as, two extreme cases of tunnel-ground interface - the full-slip and the no-slip conditions. Finally, the results for all the considered cases have been evaluated and compared, and the significant mutual differences with regard to a tunnel-ground interaction have been underlined.