2D GROUND MOVEMENT SIMULATION DUE TO TUNNEL EXCAVATION USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

• Main Author: SHUN HUI , SEBASTIAN YOENG
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS 2018
• Subjects: TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/18128/1/Final%20Dissertation.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/18128/

2D ground movement study is an essential effort in optimizing the preliminary design and planning of tunneling project. Empirical, analytical and numerical methods have been widely used to estimate the changes of the soil settlements during tunnel excavation. However, empirical and analytical methods are insufficient as they cannot fully visualize the actual settlements happened. Thus, this leads to the vast growth of numerical modelling. This report describes the project on Finite Element Method (FEM) application using staged construction via PLAXIS 2D to predict the 2D ground movements due to the induced tunnel excavation. Transverse settlement and volume loss of soil are the outputs of the studies. The simulation is validated by comparing the result produced with Gaussian curve and actual field data from part of the MRT line 1. Next, the parameters studied are type of soil model, initial stress condition and calculation methods such as β-method and contraction method. The effects of these parameters towards ground settlement and ground loss ratio are investigated and discussed. The results show that the most suitable numerical approach in Plaxis 2D is using Hardening Soil model with β-method. Using β-method is also vital in studying the effect of the delayed tunnel lining construction in transverse settlement. The greater the delayed tunnel lining construction time, the greater ground settlement is expected.