Fatigue Life Characteristics of Segmental Lining Structure for the Shallow Buried Metro Tunnel under the Dynamic Load of a High-Speed Railway

Abstract

Shallow buried shield metro tunnels constructed underneath subgrade project of high-speed railways are becoming increasingly common in China, but the lower metro tunnel bears the fatigue effect of dynamic load induced by the upper high-speed railway, so the long-term durability of segmental lining is a nonnegligible problem. The segmental lining structure of metro tunnel is in a state of static-dynamic loads for a long time, especially when a high-speed railway passes above the metro line, and the long-term durability of segmental lining needs further research. Based on theoretical analysis, the effect of different forms of loads on the fatigue life was analyzed, the change law of the static-dynamic loads on segmental lining was summarized, and the method was put forward to evaluate the fatigue life characteristics of segmental lining. The research results reveal that the additional dynamic load is the fundamental reason for the fatigue failure of the structure, and the existence of static load can cause and accelerate the occurrence of structural fatigue failure simultaneously. The results indicate that the fatigue life decreases gradually with the increase of static-dynamic load. Based on coupling analysis of static-dynamic loads of segmental lining, the fatigue life increases first and then decreases with the increase of buried depth of metro tunnel, and it remains unchanged when the depth exceeds a certain value. According to the actual metro tunnel engineering, by using ABAQUS software, a three-dimensional numerical simulation was carried out to analyze the characteristics of the fatigue life and evolution rules of segmental lining. Based on the modified fatigue life formula and metro service life, the optimization design of the buried depth was carried out to determine the most reasonable range of the buried depth. This study provides a valuable reference for safe operation and long-term durability of metro tunnels under high-speed railways.