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Short and Long-term Behaviours of Bored Tunnels in Port-Said Clay

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Abstract

This study investigates the behaviour of bored tunnels in the Port-Said very soft to firm clay deposit in El-Tina Plain, north-eastern Egypt. Recent studies provided full characterization of the physical, mechanical and time-dependent properties of Port-Said Clay. This characterization enabled simulating its constitutive behaviour using the stress-dependent Modified Cam Clay model. The finite difference method is utilized to simulate the interaction between the tunnel and Port-Said Clay. The results are presented in terms of the pore water pressure regime, shear strain level, ground surface settlement and tunnel lining bending moment. The results show significant effect of the face and grouting pressures on the tunnel’s short and long-term behaviours. The term “reference hydrostatic pressure” is introduced to evaluate short-term face stability as a more practical and easy-to-quantify parameter compared to the conventional stability number. New empirical equations are developed to describe the long-term surface settlement trough (maximum settlement and trough width) in terms of the grouting pressure and tunnel diameter for tunnels in similar soft clay deposits.

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Data Availability

Data is available upon request.

Abbreviations

C c :

the compression index

C s :

the swelling index

C r :

the recompression index

D :

the tunnel diameter

E :

the reloading modulus at the tunnel center line

E’ :

the drained elastic modulus

ϕ’ :

the drained internal friction angle

g f :

the gap parameter

g :

the equivalent gap to the total volume loss (VL)

γ :

the total unit weight

γ’ :

the effective unit weight

H :

the depth of the tunnel spring line

i :

the distance to inflection point of the surface settlement trough (settlement trough width)

k :

a dimensionless factor representing the frictional resistance between the soil and TBM chamber

K o :

the coefficient of at-rest earth pressure

κ:

the slope of the swelling line

λ:

the slope of the normal consolidation line (NCL)

M :

the slope of the critical state line (CSL)

N :

the specific volume at a reference pressure p1 on the NCL

N R :

the stability ratio at the tunnel face

Γ :

the specific volume at a reference pressure p1 on the CSL

Ω :

a dimensionless factor representing the axial deformation ahead of the tunnel face

p’ :

the mean effective stress

p 0 :

the difference between the total horizontal stress and the face pressure at the spring line

p 1 :

a reference pressure value

p v :

the effective vertical stress at the spring line

p w :

the water pressure at the spring line

p i :

the average tunnel face pressure (at the spring line) or the grouting pressure

q :

the deviatoric stress

R :

the tunnel radius

S :

the long-term surface settlement at any point along the settlement trough

S max :

the maximum long-term surface settlement

S u :

the undrained shear strength

U i :

the soil radial movement

υ :

Is the specific volume

V L :

the total volume loss

V S :

the volume of the long-term settlement trough

x :

an arbitrary distance from the tunnel centre

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Author notes

  1. Amr M. Elshanawany

    Present address: E-Construct, Cairo, Egypt

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Structural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, 1 El-Sarayat Street, Abbasia, Cairo, 11517, Egypt

    Mohamed F. Mansour

  2. Department of Structural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

    Fathalla M. El-Nahhas & Amr M. Elshanawany

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  1. Mohamed F. Mansour
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  2. Fathalla M. El-Nahhas
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Correspondence to Mohamed F. Mansour.

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Mansour, M.F., El-Nahhas, F.M. & Elshanawany, A.M. Short and Long-term Behaviours of Bored Tunnels in Port-Said Clay. Geotech Geol Eng 39, 4563–4580 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-021-01784-1

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