Model test of excavation face stability of EPB shield in sandy cobble ground and adjacent building effect

The shield tunneling technology has been widely used in the construction in sandy cobble ground, which has very strong uncertainty characteristics. The excavation face stability and the ground settlement are the key problems in the shield tunneling. In order to simulate the construction of earth pressure balance(EPB) shield tunneling, an indoor model test with different cover depths is applied to find out the law of limit support pressure on excavation face, soil arch effect and ground settlement in sand cobble ground of Beijing under the influence of adjacent buildings with flexible shallow foundation. The support pressure is unsymmetrical and the ground settlement is larger than the theoretical value by Peck equation under the influence of adjacent buildings. The results would be beneficial to guide the construction of EPB shield tunneling in sandy cobble ground.