Citation

Hu J, Xu N. Procedia Eng. 2011; 26: 107-112.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.proeng.2011.11.2146

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

More and more deep-buried underground excavations have been carried out in some large-scale hydroelectric stations at southwest of China. When underground development continues at great depths, the danger of surrounding rock instability will inevitably increase in underground powerhouses and tunnels. To in-depth analysis the failure mechanism and quantify deformation of the structures is one of the hottest problems to be probed in rock mechanics and rock engineering field. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of different confining pressures on the failure phenomena of tunnels. A realistic failure progressive analysis code named RFPA was adopted to display the full failure processes of tunnel under different confining pressures. RFPA code has the capability of simulating the whole fracturing process of initiation, propagation and coalescence of fractures around excavations. The numerical model presented here can be used not only to display fracturing patterns of tunnels, but also to predict fracturing patterns under different confining pressures. The simulated results demonstrate that confining pressures play a great role in the failure mode of tunnels. With the increase of lateral pressure, the initiation, migration and expansion of cracks can be delineated. Based on these fracturing patters, failure mechanisms are identified and reasonable support can be thus performed later on.