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Research on reasonable reserved deformation and height-span ratio of a large deformation tunnel section in high geo-stress soft rock near a fault zone: a case study

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Abstract

Extrusion deformation under high geo-stress has always been a key issue in the construction of deep-buried tunnels in soft rock masses. Taking the Yulong Snow Mountain long tunnel of the Lijiang-Shangri-La high-speed railway in Yunnan Province, which undergoes severe deformation under high geo-stress conditions, as an example, this paper expounds the deformation law and mechanical behavior of the initial support structure in the near-fault zone section (450‒600 m away from the Yulong Snow Mountain-Xilu fault) of the tunnel under three kinds of reserved deformation (height-span ratio). First, through an investigation of the surrounding geological characteristics, a stress test of the tunnel site area, and an investigation of the tunnel construction site, the geological structure of the tunnel site area, the geo-stress field environment, and the characteristics of the damage of the supporting structure were ascertained. It was found that the occurrence of a large deformation is the combined result of high geo-stress and poor self-stability of fractured basalt. On-site monitoring was carried out, and the deformation characteristics and mechanical behavior of three kinds of initial support structures were studied from the aspects of initial support deformation, surrounding rock pressure, stress of steel arch, and axial force and bending moment of steel arch. The results show that the reasonable initial support height-span ratio of single-track railway tunnels with high geo-stress and large deformation near the fault zone should be close to 1 and that the reserved deformation should be set between 0.05D and 0.15D according to the actual situation of large deformation.

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Data availability

All data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of Sichuan Province (Grant No. 2022JDJQ0018).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Transportation Tunnel Engineering, Ministry of Education, Southwest Jiaotong University, No. 111, Beiyiduan, Erhuan Road, Chengdu, 610031, Sichuan, China

    Yang Zhou, Wenbo Yang, Liangliang Zhao, Zhugang You, Haosheng Tian, Li Zhang & Zhiyong Zhu

  2. China Merchants Chongqing Communications Technology Research & Design Institute Co., Ltd, Chongqing, 400067, China

    Li Zhang

  3. China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co., Ltd., Wuhan, 430063, Hubei, China

    Zhiyong Zhu

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  1. Yang Zhou
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  2. Wenbo Yang
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  3. Liangliang Zhao
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Correspondence to Wenbo Yang.

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Zhou, Y., Yang, W., Zhao, L. et al. Research on reasonable reserved deformation and height-span ratio of a large deformation tunnel section in high geo-stress soft rock near a fault zone: a case study. Bull Eng Geol Environ 82, 378 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-023-03407-w

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