Study on effect of segments erection tolerance and wedge-shaped segment on segment ring in shield tunnel

INTRODUCTION Shield tunnel method has become the most pre- ferred method in city tunnel construction because of its excellent attributes: little effect on surrounding environment, fast and safe construction, outstanding performance in earthquake resistance, etc. (Zhang et al., 2004). In different shield tunnels, the arrangement and number of segments are different, but the whole assembling process is generally the same. The as- sembling process begins with A2P, then A1P, A3P, BP, CP, …

Study on effect of segments erection tolerance and wedge-shaped segment on segment ring in shield tunnel

Deformation and dislocations of segments of shield tunnel in construction stage have apparent effect on tunnel structure stress and even cause local cracks and breakage in tunnel. 3D finite element method was used to analyze two segment ring models under uniform injected pressure: (1) segment ring without wedge-shaped segment, which has 16 types of preinstall erection tolerance; (2) segment ring with wedge-shaped segment, which has no preinstall erection tolerance. The analysis results indicate that different erection tolerances can cause irregular deformation in segment ring under uniform injected pressure, and that the tolerance values are enlarged further. Wedge-shaped segment apparently affects the overall deformation of segment ring without erection tolerances. The uniform injected pressure can cause deformation of ring with wedge-shaped segment irregular, and dislocations also appear in this situation. The stress of segment with erection tolerances is much larger than that of segment without erection tolerances. Enlarging the central angle of wedge-shaped segment can make the irregular deformation and dis- locations of segments smaller. The analysis results also provide basis for erection tolerance control and improvement of segment constitution.