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Engineering behavior of soft rock tunnels in mountainous areas under multiple hazard inducers: a case study of the Jiuzhaigou-Mianyang Expressway

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Abstract

There are multiple hazard inducers brought about by geological conditions and man-made conditions during the construction of soft rock tunnels in difficult and dangerous mountainous areas, all of which have result in various challenges for the builders. Based on the Jiuzhaigou-Mianyang Expressway (JME), located on the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the northwestern edge of the Sichuan Basin, many on-site investigations and monitorings of surrounding rock pressure and structural mechanical behavior have been conducted on the soft rock tunnels with different hazard inducers, including layered rock tunnels, tunnels strongly affected by underground water and rainwater, tunnels that cross fault fracture zones, and twin tunnels with small clear distance. The results show that the failure characteristics and mechanical behavior of structures are different for different disaster inducers. Layered rock mass leads to asymmetry of structural failure and mechanical behavior; abundant groundwater and a complete rainfall runoff system reduce the self-bearing capacity of surrounding rock; tunnel failure and structural stress through fault zones are generally concentrated at the vault and spandrels with poor stability; the approaching excavation with small clear distance will cause secondary disturbance to the middle rock column, resulting in a prominent decrease in the structural stability of the middle rock column, which may seriously lead to collapse. In addition, the secondary lining of these tunnels gradually becomes the main load-bearing structure during the pressure release of the surrounding rock.

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Funding

This research was supported by the High Speed Railway and Natural Science United Foundation of China (No. U1734205), the Transportation Science and Technology Project of Sichuan Province, China (2019ZL09).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Transportation Tunnel Engineering, Ministry of Education, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, Sichuan, China

    Fangyin Wu, Chuan He, Wenbo Yang, Hao Kou, Ziquan Chen & Wei Meng

  2. Sichuan Mianjiu Expressway Co., Ltd., Chengdu 610041, Sichuan, China

    Fei Wang

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  1. Fangyin Wu
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  2. Chuan He
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  3. Wenbo Yang
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  4. Hao Kou
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  5. Ziquan Chen
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  6. Fei Wang
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  7. Wei Meng
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Correspondence to Wenbo Yang.

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Wu, F., He, C., Yang, W. et al. Engineering behavior of soft rock tunnels in mountainous areas under multiple hazard inducers: a case study of the Jiuzhaigou-Mianyang Expressway. Bull Eng Geol Environ 81, 305 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-022-02805-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-022-02805-w

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