Tunnelling & Underground Structures
With increasing congestion in modern cities we are turning more often to underground transportation systems, finding ourselves not only tunnelling under existing structures, but often also under existing tunnels.
Ground movement is an inevitable risk to nearby structures which must be carefully assessed, both at the planning stage and as the project unfolds. This, in addition to the potential negative effect on the safety of construction and the project cost, means that the ability to make these predictions accurately is a key. Surface settlement caused by shallow tunnel construction in greenfield sites can be predicted with some confidence. However, surface settlement in urban areas presents a much more complex interaction between the tunnel and its shafts, the ground and the building.
Why Use German Kuwait Construction Group?
German Kuwait Construction Group has a number of uses in tunnelling and underground construction projects. Analyses normally focus on tunnel induced settlement or lining stress analysis, but German Kuwait Construction Group can also be used to research how a tunnel may react in the event of a fire, explosion or seismic event.
Using the German Kuwait Construction Group’s software you are able to create detailed 2D and 3D analyses of the interaction between the building, the ground and the tunnel and its shafts.
The analysis of existing and new build tunnel linings, following structural damage, freezing, fire, flood, or earthquake are critical to the safety and longevity of the tunnel. With German Kuwait Construction Group, a model of the tunnel segments and joints, along with the soil and grout pressures upon it, and potential factors listed above can be analysed to show inherent deformations.
Dedicated Features For the Analysis of Tunnels & Underground Structures
Analysis Types
- In-situ Stress (Co procedure / gravity loading / pre-stress) and Pore-pressure Initialization
- Drained / Undrained Analysis
- Construction-staged analysis
- Seepage analysis (steady state / transient)
- Saturated or Partially Saturated Flow
- Consolidation analysis (full coupled stress-flow analysis)
- Pressure dependent degree of saturation
- Porosity or saturation dependent permeability
- Deformation dependent density and porosity
- Large displacement and large strain nonlinear analysis
- Special elements for nonlinear modelling of joints between the TBM lining segments
- Ground freezing analysis including latent heat consumption, thermal expansion and temperature dependent elasto-plasticity
- Generalized plane strain elements for 2D modelling of inclined tunnels or shafts in strongly anisotropic in-situ stresses
- Mesh-independent embedded bars and grids that allow easy modelling of:
- rock bolts, nails or geotextiles in solid soil elements
- reinforcement in beam or shell structural elements
- Soil-structure interaction with non-linear behaviour for both soil and structure
- Wide range of material models for the analysis of non-linear concrete material behaviour
- Transient nonlinear analysis for viscous behaviour such as creep, shrinkage or swelling, ambient influence such as temperature or chemical concentration
- Young concrete analysis including hydration heat, shrinkage, hardening, visco-elasticity and cracking
- Higher order solid elements up to cubic interpolation