THE STABILITY OF SHALLOW TUNNELS AND UNDERGROUND OPENINGS IN COHESIVE MATERIAL
A basic engineering decision to be made in designing a tunnel in soft clay is whether or not the tunnel can be excavated without internal support. The safety of constructing a shallow heading in soft clay can be assessed in terms of the fluid support pressure which may be required to maintain stability. This can be estimated by means of the lower and upper bound theorems of plasticity. The paper considers three different shapes of shallow underground opening relevant to tunnelling and upper and lower bound stability solutions are derived for collapse under undrained conditions. Solutions are also derived for assessment of the risk of blow-out failure caused by excessively high fluid pressures. Conditions are considered under which local collapse can occur, independent of the cover above the tunnel. (Author/TRRL)
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00168505
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Corporate Authors:
Institution of Civil Engineers
One Great George Street, Westminster
London, United Kingdom SW1P 3AA -
Authors:
- Davis, E H
- Gunn, M J
- Mair, R J
- Seneviratne, H N
- Publication Date: 1980-12
Media Info
- Features: Figures; References;
- Pagination: p. 397-416
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Serial:
- GEOTECHNIQUE
- Volume: 30
- Issue Number: 4
- Publisher: Thomas Telford Limited
- ISSN: 0016-8505
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Circles; Clay; Compressibility; Deformation; Depth; Excavation and tunneling; Failure; Hazards; Plasticity; Risk assessment; Saturated soils; Soft clays; Stability (Mechanics); Stresses; Structural design; Tunnels; Unsaturated soils
- Uncontrolled Terms: Tunnel design; Undrained soils
- ITRD Terms: 6423: Circle; 4177: Clay; 5905: Compressibility; 5595: Deformation; 6499: Depth; 5520: Failure; 5922: Plasticity; 9150: Risk; 5930: Stability; 5575: Stress (in material); 3374: Tunnel; 5782: Undrained soil
- Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Construction; Design; Geotechnology; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I25: Design of Tunnels;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00330857
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
- Files: ITRD, TRIS
- Created Date: Aug 15 1981 12:00AM