Three Dimensional Finite Element Analyses to Investigate the Impact of Tunneling on Pile

Tunnels are an integral part of the infrastructure of modern society and are used for a wide range of applications,including subways and railways, highways, material storage, and sewage and water transport. On the other hand, inurban area many of the surface structures are supported by piled foundations. Thus, tunneling-induced groundmovements may cause serious damage to the adjacent piles. Several researchers conducted two-dimensional laboratory tests and centrifuge model tests and presented closed-form analytical solution for the preliminary design purpose. In this paper, a series of finite element simulations were performed to investigate the influence of tunneling on adjacent piles. Results of three-dimensional numerical analysis show that, although there is a good agreement between finite element method and closed-form analytical solution when the tunnel lining is located (installed) at the pile level, magnitude of internal forces and displacement imposed on pile due to the tunneling increase significantly even after the passage of tunnel face from the pile.

Keywords:

Tunneling , Pile Foundation , Interaction , Displacement , Internal Forces