Contributions to Géotechnique 1948–2008: Tunnelling

Abstract

The response of the ground and nearby structures to tunnelling constitutes a complex soil–structure interaction boundary value problem. Géotechnique papers published over the past 60 years that have dealt with this subject are summarised and discussed here. The papers have been organised according to their subject matter, including historical perspectives, various forms of theoretical and numerical analyses, small-scale modelling, and full-scale field monitoring. The number of papers written has steadily accelerated with time, thus indicating the growing interest in tunnelling and its effects, particularly in the urban environment, and an increase in our understanding of the subject. However, our knowledge is far from complete, and there are still many challenges to be tackled, particularly concerning the effects of tunnelling on existing infrastructure.

Large-scale soil–structure physical model (1g) – assessment of structure damages

“…Figure 1 presents the theoretical curves of vertical displacement, horizontal displacement, tilt, horizontal strain and curvature in the case of mining. Similar curves can be presented in the case of tunnelling (Al Heib, 2008;Standing and Potts, 2008). The subsidence characteristics depend on the characteristics of the underground cavities (depth, area etc.).…”

“…The nature of the subsoil can play a major role in the transfer of underground movement to the structures. Several research projects have focused on analysing the ground-structure interaction phenomena due to several types of soil movements (Abbass-Fayad, 2004;Burd et al, 2000;Deck, 2002;Lee and Bassett, 2007;Nakai et al, 1997;Standing and Potts, 2008;Sung et al, 2006). The present paper will mainly focus on the presentation of soil-structure interaction in the case of mining subsidence using the facility of the physical modelling.…”

A simple equation for obtaining finite strain solutions from small strain analyses of tunnels with very large convergences

“…The occasionally very large deformation phenomena seen in tunnelling, together with the lack of a comprehensive work in the literature dealing with their analysis (cf., e.g., review papers by Barla (2002), Mair (2008) and Standing & Potts (2008)), motivated the present authors to study the response of deep underground openings in the framework of finite strain elasto-plasticity and to derive exact, finite strain, closed-form solutions for the ground characteristic line (Vrakas & Anagnostou, 2014, 2015.…”

Analysis of tunnel excavation in London Clay incorporating soil structure

“…St James's Park site with indication of length of instrumented section and lateral extension of numerical model (adapted fromStanding & Potts, 2008) …”