FINITE DIFFERENCE MODELING FOR DETERMINATION OF TUNNELING EFFECTS ON ADJACENT STRUCTURES

by Walid Ahmed Dawoud

An Abstract of
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Civil Engineering

Faculty of Engineering at Shobra Benha University

During and after tunnel construction, the surrounding building is subjected to different deformations and strains due to immediate settlement, tunnel lining elastic deformation, and long-term settlement, these tunnel induced deformations and strains can cause damage to the surrounding buildings and other structures. Current prediction approaches are conservative and lead to unnecessary expenditure in the design and construction of protective measures, therefore a better understanding into the mechanisms that control the tunneling induced deformations could reduce costs and help avoid disputes and resolve claims. This research study introduced a three dimensional elasto-plastic finite difference model to predict building damage due to tunnel construction taking into account the interaction between building stiffness, tunnel and the surrounding soil. To verify this model, ground surface deformation and strains induced in building was investigated and compared with field measurement of a two case studies; A building due to construction of Greater Cairo Metro Line 3 tunnel, and Neptune House due to construction of the Jubilee Line Extension Tunnel, in London. Reasonable agreement is found between the observed field measurements and the predicted results using the 3D numerical simulation. Different aspects of geotechnical numerical modeling was discussed to assess tunnel-soilbuilding interaction such as soil initial stress state, excavation and construction sequence, soil material model behavior, volume loss and building stiffness. Based on the verified 3D numerical model; a parametric study was carried out to investigate the effect of: soil stiffness, building distance from tunnel center line, building length/width ratio, and building stiffness on building induced damage. The parameters used i

to assess building damage are building induced maximum vertical movement, maximum differential movement, maximum deflection ratio, horizontal movement, horizontal strain, and maximum tensile strain. The proposed verified model was used to refine the prediction of tunnel induced building deformation by the generation of settlement prediction/building damage assessment charts. These charts can be incorporated in the current preliminary damage risk assessment and it may reduce the number of buildings for which an expensive, detailed evaluation has to be performed. The settlement prediction/building damage assessment charts were introduced, with a detailed discussion for the limitations of these charts. A detailed example application was used to verify the applicability of using these charts for the prediction of building damage category and compared with the output of FLAC3D numerical model and the predicted damage category of the building using the modification factor method. .

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