Response of Soil and a Submerged Tunnel During a Thrust Fault Offset Based on Model Experiment and Numerical Analysis

Abstract

Observed from the earthquake disasters occurred over the decades in Taiwan, the deformation of near surface soil was the major cause lead to damages of underground structures or pipe lines; for instance, the damage of diversion tunnel of Shih-Kang Dam in Chichi earthquake is a typical case. To study the process of fault propagation as well as the associated soil and structure deformation during a fault offset event, model experiments of simulating thrust fault offset were set up, in which non-cohesive sands was adopted simulating near surface soil. The results, obtained from experiment studies and numerical analyses based on finite element method were then compared to further explore the behavior of soil, structure during faulting process. The soil deformation obtained from numerical analysis complies with the outcome from model experiments. In the near future, when conducting a risk evaluation for earthquake-induced damage on underground structure, a numerical stimulation can provides helpful quantity analysis and can serve as a handy tool for the earthquake resistance design.

The deformation of overburden soil induced by thrust faulting and its impact on underground tunnels

“…Intensive studies of deformational behaviors of overburden beds induced by faulting have been conducted. (Roth et al, 1981(Roth et al, , 1982Cole and Lade, 1984;Lade et al, 1984;Tani et al, 1994;Bray et al, 1994a,b;Lazarte and Bray, 1996;Bray, 2001;Erickson et al, 2001;Johnson and Johnson, 2002;Finch et al, 2003Finch et al, , 2004Lee and Hamada, 2005;Lin et al, 2005Lin et al, , 2006a; Hardy and Finch, 2006;Johansson and Konagai, 2006). Beds of overburden soil deformed by propagation of thrust fault situated underneath comprise severely distorted zone (fault zone) within a triangular shear zone.…”

Deformation of overburden soil induced by thrust fault slip

“…2; Lade et al, 1984;Bray et al, 1994a;Chen et al, 2001Chen et al, , 2004Lee et al, 2004), and in the laboratory experiments (Fig. 8; Cole and Lade, 1984;Tani et al, 1994;Bray et al, 1994b;Lee and Hamada, 2005;Lin et al, 2005a).…”

“…Both physical sandbox experiment and numerical modeling of fault strain field and plastic deformation around the fault zone are important, as defined by previous works on thrust and strike-slip fault (Roth et al, 1982;Cole and Lade, 1984;Tani et al, 1994;Bray et al, 1994a;Lazarte and Bray, 1996;Chung et al, 2005;Lee and Hamada, 2005;Lin et al, 2005a). Scaling effects of experimental models with well-characterized natural examples of fault slip, as illuminated by the trench excavation, are also necessary components of these efforts (e.g.…”

“…Surface rupture in this earthquake occurred along 95 km of the Chelungpu Fault, with ground uplift ranging from 2 to 10 m (Chen et al, 2001;Lee et al, 2001). As during the earthquake, coseismic fault movement causes significant damage to buildings and underground structures near or within the deformation zone, especially when it occurs in metropolitan areas; see other examples in the USA (Landers, California, Mw = 7.3, 1992), Turkey (Izmit, Mw = 7.4, 1999), Japan (Kobe, Mw = 7.2, 1995) and other countries (Bray, 2001;Wang et al, 2001;Chung et al, 2005;Lin et al, 2005a;Konagai, 2001Konagai, , 2003.…”

Analysis of Damage Mechanism of Tunnel Lining Structure under the Coupling Action of Active Fault

“…Bransby et al [13,14] simulated normal and inverse faults with a fault dip of 60°through centrifuge tests, considering the effect of changing the load on the upper part of the soil layer and changing the position of the rigid foundation on the fracture of the soil layer. Lin et al [15,17] simulated the deformation and failure characteristics of tunnels under thrust fault movement through the designed fault test device, studied the influence of relevant parameters on the tunnel structure, and verified the experimental conclusions by numerical simulation. Sabagh and Ghalandarzadeh [18] used a series of finite element numerical models to evaluate the behavior of tunnel and reverse fault intersections.…”