The Convergence Method Analysis

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2.6.3 The Convergence Method This approach is a plain strain method which simulates a 3D effect. Since ground displacement occur prior to tunnel excavation, and the support can be installed with a time delay behind the excavation face, this approach can take into account this features. It can be spitted into: stiffness reduction method and load reduction method [3]. a.) Stiffness reduction method This method implies the gradually reduction of material stiffness inside the periphery of the tunnel lining. In this manner the excavation process will be modeled accordingly. This procedure allows us to determine both the settlement ahead the face of the tunnel (prior to lining installation) and the settlements parallel to the tunnel. There is a certain amount of deformation before the lining is install therefore is important to determine the wall deformation prior to support installation [3]. Figure 12. Stiffness reduction [4] The material stiffness inside the periphery of the tunnel lining is going to be reduced by an α-factor resulting in a reduced Young modulus (1- αi)E. This is to say that for the material in the future opening, using a factor of α=0 represents the same stiffness as the one …show more content…

As in the gap method, ground deformation is limited by the outer diameter of the tunnel lining and similar to the stress reduction method a pressure boundary condition along the excavated tunnel boundary applies. But unlike the stress reduction method which is reducing the acting initial stresses along this boundary, it will be shown that the grout pressure method replaces the initial stresses by a given grout pressure distribution, which differs considerably from the distribution of initial stresses. In the following the grout pressure method will be proposed as an improved installation procedure for shield

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