Indian Journal of Engineering & Materials Sciences

Vol. 7, April 2000, pp. 57-60

Stability analysis of twin tunnels by finite element method
C S Singh
a
& B K Shrivastva
b
aHindalco Industries Limited, Court Road, P.O. & District Lohardaga, Bihar 835 302
hDepartment of Mining Engineering, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, Indi a
Received 29 June 1998; accepted 7 February 2000
The tunnels are generally made for mining, civil and other engineering works. The techniques to construct twin tunnel s
become a matter of great concern to rock designers, especially for the stability of the structure. The stability of tunnel s
depends upon a number of parameters. The present studies deal with the simulation of the twin tunnels in general and
methods of their construction in particular, by analyzing the stability of twin tunnels based on finite element method. Three
different types of techniques have been adopted for the construction of such tunnels, viz., (i) simultaneous excavation, (ii )
alternate excavation, and (iii) simultaneous sequential excavation. The reported studies show that the simultaneous
sequential excavation method of construction of twin tunnels is more appropriate in comparison to the other two methods of
construction.
The methods of construction of twin tunnels play an
important role on their stability. The tunnels are
generally' utilized for roadways, ventilation,
transportation and other appli ed engineering purposes.
Sometimes, it becomes a pre-requisite for the
development of underground openings. In a rock
stress environment, the stress field has a tendency to
interact when twin tunnels are in close proximity.
Thus, over stressing the parting of a pillar between
twin tunnel s makes a vulnerable zone. The safety of
twin tunnel systems, therefore, lies in controlling the
final state of stress pattern in the parting pillar so as to
keep it within safety limits.
Laboratory studies have been made to analyze the
stability of twin tunnels by physical modellingl.2.
Conventional approaches presume that the
construction of tunnel is completed in one stage and
gravity load withheld until the final shape is attained.
It has already been proved analytically' that the
conventional approach is valid only if the state of
stress in the structure is determined at all stages
during the construction process. The numerical
approach by finite element method (FEM) is one such
method having the flexibility of incorporating the
arbitrary construction sequence and thereby
simulating the structure in nearly true condition.
Numerous procedures have been developed from time
to time to analyze such situations based on various
assumptions
4
-
17
An attempt has been made here to
explain in some detail the stability analysis of twin
tunnel driveages by this approach.
Simulation of Twin Tunnels
The method of construction of tunnel s could be
simulated in a number of ways. However, an attempt
has been made to study the effects of excavation
sequence on the resulting stress environment
produced in the surrounding rockmass. A numerical
model has already been developed
17
to study the non-
dimensional principal stress, i.e. , a/ali and ai al i ,
where, al and a, are maximum and minimum
principal stresses, respectively, and ali is in situ
maximum principal stress. The compressive stress has
been taken as positive and tensile stress has been
taken as negative. Three types of simulation of
tunnels have been considered as s ~ o w in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1 depicts ' Twin Square Horizontal Openings' .
In the first case, the twin tunnels are excavated
simultaneously (i.e. at the same time) . In the second
SAND-STONE
COAL
~ ~
'- -'
' _ _ -l _ ...1
SAND-STONE
I B B I
,--...
r- '"
:]
I : : ~
'- - -' L_-'
L __ J
:] ]
~
(A) SIMULTANEOUS EXCAVATION (6) ALTERNATE EXCA\lA.TION (el SEOUEHTIAL EXCAVATION
Fig. I-Twin square horizontal openings
58
INDIAN 1. ENG. MATER. SCI., APRIL 2000
case, alternate excavations are made (i.e. second
tunnel is excavated after finishing the first) and, in the
third case, simultaneous sequential excavations are
made (i.e. one section is excavated simul taneously for
both the tunnel s and then enlarged to bigger
dimension). The sequence simul ated for finite element
analysis is based on the assumption that tunnels are in
coal bed embedded in a layered strata of sandstone.
The area is discretised into 324 elements having
361 nodes. The body forces are considerably less in
comparison to in situ stresses as the excavation is
considered to be deep enough. The boundary is
assumed to be six times the sides away from the
Fig. 2-Contours of maximum principal stress around twin
horizontal square tunnels during simultaneous excavat ion

Oii
\2
L ,: U 1--1 0 0 I
Fig. 3-Contours of maximum principal stress during alternate
excavation
center of the opening. It is also assumed that the
simulation of excavation is initially under a stressed
environment. This is foll owed by the reversal of
stresses, i.e., computed stress under stress
environment is applied in an opposite direction along
the excavation boundary and finally these stresses are
applied as equi valent nodal point forces . The sum of
initial stresses (pre-mining stresses) , and stresses
caused due to excavation (induced stresses) yield the
final state of stresses. For the present analysis, the
ratio of hori zontal to vertical in situ stresses has been
taken as 1.0. However, the stress values also depend
upon this ratio. The physico-mechanical properties
used for the present study are summari zed in Table I.
Results and Discussion
Figs 2-4 show the contours of maximum principal
stress whereas Figs 5-7 show the contours of
minimum principal stress -around twin hori zontal
tunnels. The area affected by tensile stress around the
tunnels has been hatched. At the comers of the tunnel ,
there is a high compressive stress in all the three
conditions but the magnitude of stress is less in case
of simultaneous sequential excavation method tn
comparison to other two methods of construction.
Table I-Physico-mechanical properties of rockmass
Rockmass
Sandstone
Coal
Young's
modulus
(MN/m
2
x I 0
4
)
0.972
0.408
8 8
\- 1
Poisson's Unit
ratio (MN/m' )
0.20 0.02450
0.30 0.01274
0 0
Fig. 4-Contours of maxi mum principal stress during sequential
excavation
SINGH & SHRIVASTAVA: STABILITY ANALYSIS OF TWIN TUNNELS BY FINITE ELEMENT METHOD 59
Fig. 5-Contours of minimum principal stress during
simultaneous excavation
o [J 1--1 0 0
~ )
Oli
Fig. 6-Contours of minimum principal stress during alternate
excavation
The parting pillar between the two tunnels also
experiences high stress concentrations. The
maximum, minimum and maximum shear stress
concentrations for the three different methods of
construction of twin horizontal tunnels are
summarized in Table 2. The sequential excavation
method (i.e. excavating both the tunnels
simultaneously and then enlarging them to a bigger
size) seems to be most stable in comparison to other
two methods, as evident from Table 2. It may be said
that such a system of sequential excavation gives
better results from stability point of view, particularly
in terms of shear and tensile stress component of
ultimate analysis. Since, rocks are usually weak in
tension and or shear, lowering of their values would
,--8_8--'.' ._\- 1'-------'0_0_
09
--__________ ~ - - - - __ --__
Fig. 7-Contours of minimum principal stress during sequential
excavation
Table 2-Stress concentrations in parting pillar of twin horizontal
tunnels
Method of Maximum Minimum Maximum
construction principal principal shear stress
stress stress (MPa)
(MPa) (MPa)
Simultaneous 2.50 -0.88 1.69
Alternate 2.78 -1.\0 1.94
Simultaneous 2.00 -1.00 1.50
sequential
be of great significance for the stabi lity of twin
tunnels ,
Conclusions
It is concluded that the simultaneous sequential
method of construction of twin horizontal tunnels has
pronounced effect on stress environment. It has also
been observed that during the application of this
method, the tunnels seem to be more stable, The usual
practice of alternate excavation induces high stress
concentrations in parting pillars compared to others,
This study suggests that the simultaneous sequential
method of excavation should be adopted for the
stability of such structures.
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