Monitoring of Three-dimensional Additional Stress and Strain in Shield Segments of Former Tunnels in the Construction of Closely-Spaced Twin Tunnels

In recent years, with the development of urbanization, the construction of closely-spaced twin tunnels is becoming more and more common. How to ensure the safety of the former tunnel during the construction of the later tunnel has become the focus of the construction of closely-spaced twin tunnels. To study the safety of the former tunnel segment structure, this paper analyzed the field monitoring data of practical engineering (the section with the minimum separation (4.5 m) between the twin tunnels from Anyuanxi station to Chunshenhu station on the Suzhou Metro Line 4 in Jiangsu, China) and obtained the dynamic change law of additional stress and strain of the former tunnel segment under the influence of the construction of later tunnel. Based on this research, the following conclusions were drawn: (1) The maximum circumferential tensile stress on the segmental structures was shown to be 2.62 MPa at the horizontal position on Section S2 in the side adjacent to the later tunnel, which should be main monitored. (2) The maximum values of the vertical deformation and peripheral convergence of the segments were 16.21 and 17.39 mm, separately, both of which were less than two-thirds of the allowable deformation. Therefore, the shield tunnel deformations were within allowable limits. This research results can provide guidance for similar engineering. © 2016, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.