Deformation monitoring at shield tunnel joints: Laboratory test
and discrete element simulation
1.School of Earth Sciences and Engineering,Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
2.Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Brunel University London,London, UK
Abstract: Shield tunnel, composed of several segments, is widely used in urban underground engineering. When the tunnel is under load, relative displacement occurs between adjacent segments. In the past, distributed optical fiber sensing technology was used to perform strain monitoring, but there is an urgent need to determine how to transform strain into displacement. In this study, optical frequency domain reflectometry was applied in laboratory tests. Aiming at the shear process and center settlement process of shield tunnel segments, two kinds of quantitative calculation methods were put forward to carry out a quantitative analysis. Meanwhile, the laboratory test process was simulated numerically utilizing the discrete element numerical analysis method. Optical fiber, an atypical geotechnical material, was innovatively applied for discrete element modeling and numerical simulation. The results show that the measured displacement of the dial gauge, the calculated results of the numerical model, and the displacement quantitatively calculated from the optical fiber data agree with each other in general. The latter two methods can potentially be utilized in engineering application of deformation monitoring at shield tunnel joints, but need to be further calibrated and adjusted in detail.
Keywords: discrete element method; distributed optical fiber; MatDEM; OFDR; shield tunnel
Fig. 4 Schematic diagram of the test device, (b) optical fiber's position at the cross section of the pipe, (c) schematic diagram of the center settlement test, and (d) schematic diagram of the shear test.
Fig. 8 Model of tunnels and optical fiber.
Fig. 10 Discrete element model of the shear test and the center settlement test.
Fig. 12 Strain curves of the tunnel shear test process in the numerical simulation.
Fig. 16 Quantitative calculation results of the center settlement test.
Mao M, Yang X, Liu C, Zhao T, Liu H. Deformation monitoring at shield tunnel joints: laboratory test and discrete element simulation. Deep Undergr Sci Eng. 2024;1‐9. doi:10.1002/dug2.12092