Parametric investigation of tunnelling-induced ground movement due to geometrical and operational TBM complexities

This paper investigates tunnelling-induced ground movements adopting a 3D simulation of shield tunnelling (EPB or slurry machine) with the finite element code ABAQUS originally presented by KAVVADAS et al., [2017]. The investigation focuses on fully saturated clayey-like ground conditions and, therefore, coupled numerical analyses are performed assuming that the groundwater table is at surface. The effect of various geometrical and operational TBM parameters such as steering gap opening, grout injection pressure and potential inflow of fluids in the steering gap around the shield are investigated parametrically for different profiles of ground strength. The results of these analyses show that the examined geometrical and operational TBM parameters have a pronounced effect on tunnelling-induced ground movements. The paper further discusses their effect in conjunction with different ground conditions.