Groundwater pressure induced failure of sprayed waterproof membrane interface in tunnels

Abstract

Groundwater pressure is the main cause of debonding (i.e., tensile failure) of the sprayed waterproofing membrane interface within composite sprayed concrete lined (SCL) tunnels. It is critical to understand the failure mechanisms, the right approach to numerically simulating its effects and the practical implications on lining design and membrane interface testing methodology. This paper answers these questions. The paper first presents a conceptual relationship between the possible groundwater pressure application locations and the stress state and hence potential failure mechanism of the membrane interface in composite SCL tunnels. To quantify stresses in the fully bonded membrane interface, two numerical modelling approaches for the membrane interface with different levels of complexity are introduced. Example numerical analyses of composite beams and whole composite SCL tunnels with fully bonded membrane interface are demonstrated. The results confirm the conceptual relationship between water application location and the stress state and potential failure mechanism of the membrane interface. The results also confirm the proposed two numerical modelling approaches are both able to simulate the effects of groundwater pressure on the stress states of membrane interface and tunnel lining forces. The implications on the tunnel design and testing programme for the sprayed membrane interface are discussed.