Assessment of the Drain Conditions on Variations of the Pore Pressure in Surrounding Soil of the Tunnel

Subject Areas : Structural Engineering

Mohammad Azadi  Azadi ¹ (Islamic Azad University, Qazvin Branch, Qazvin, Iran)
S.M  Mir Mohammad Hosseinib ² (Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran)
S.M.  Nasimifar ³ (Civil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran)
M  Pouranian ⁴ (Civil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran)

Received: 2010-12-15 Accepted : 2011-02-10 Published : 2011-08-21

Keywords: Keywords: Drain conditions, Tunnel, Pore pressure, soft soil, Deformation,

Abstract :

Excess pore pressure under seismic loadings has always been a main concern in geotechnical engineering practices. The phenomenon in soil can cause an effective stress and hence cause the shear strength of the soil to decrease considerably and large deformations to occur in the area. Generally, increases in pore pressure occur in un-drained conditions. If it is formed, its consequences decrease seriously. There are several reports on devastations caused by excess pore pressure in the surrounding soil of the underground structures. As stresses and deformations of the tunnel lining increase, the surrounding soil of the tunnel is liquefied and large deformations become observable. If an increase in the pore pressure occurs in the surrounding soil of the tunnel, which is an improvement of the surrounding area of the tunnel, then stresses and deformations should be set on the allowable limit. Therefore, evaluation of excessive pore pressure effects on the tunnel lining can be regarded as an important issue and this paper is designed to focus on precisely this topic.