The Squeezing Potential of Rocks Around Tunnels Theory and Prediction
The Squeezing Potential of Rocks Around Tunnels Theory and Prediction
The Squeezing Potential of Rocks Around Tunnels Theory and Prediction
Summary
The deformational behaviour of tunnels, which underwent large deformations, so-
called squeezing, have been recently receiving great attention in the field of rock
mechanics and tunnelling. Contrary to rockbursting phenomenon in which the
deformation of the medium takes place instantaneously, the deformation of the sur-
rounding rock in squeezing phenomenon takes place slowly and gradually when
the resulting stress state following the excavation exceeds the strength of the sur-
rounding medium. Although there are some proposals for the definition of squeez-
ing rocks and prediction of their squeezing potential and deformations of tunnels in
literature, it is difficult to say that they are concise and appropriate.
In the first half of this paper, the squeezing phenomenon of rock about tun-
nels and its mechanism and associated factors are clarified by studying carefully
observed failures in-situ and laboratory model tests. Then, an extensive survey of
tunnels in squeezing rocks in Japan is presented and the results of this survey are
summarised. In the second half of the paper, a new method is proposed to predict
the squeezing potential and deformations of tunnels in squeezing rock. Then, the
method is applied to actual tunnelling projects, where squeezing problems have
been encountered, to check its validity and applicability. As a concrete example, an
application of the method to predict the squeezing potential and deformations of
the rock along a 300 m long section of an actual tunnel was made.
I. Introduction
exceeds its strength. If the deformation of the medium takes place instan-
taneously, it is called rock-bursting. On the other hand, if the deformation
takes place slowly, it is termed as squeezing. The other cause of deforma-
tions is said to be due to swelling as a result of chemical reaction of some
minerals contained in rocks with water. This particular study is concerned
with the squeezing phenomenon.
Muirwood (1972) initially proposed the competency factor which is
defined as the ratio of uniaxial strength of rock to overburden stress to
assess the stability of tunnels. This parameter was later used by Nakano
(1979) to recognize the squeezing potential of soft-rock tunnelling in Japan.
Saari (1982) suggested the use of intensity of the tangential strain of tun-
nels as a parameter to assess the degree of squeezing of the rock and he
suggested a threshold value of 1% for the recognition of squeezing. Saari
conceived the squeezing phenomenon as an elasto-visco-plastic behaviour
of rock and he did some numerical analyses and proposed closed form
solutions for some special cases. However, his model does not consider the
deterioration of the strength of the medium in relation to straining. Tani-
moto (1984) conceived the squeezing phenomenon as an elasto-plastic
behaviour of the surrounding rock and he proposed an elasto-plastic solu-
tion with a strain-softening constitutive law to estimate the degree of strain-
ing of the rock about the tunnel. He suggested that squeezing would occur
when the rock is strained to its residual plastic state (flow state). However,
such a suggestion corresponds to the threshold value for heavy squeezing
as will be described in the following sections. It should be also noted that
the squeezing is initiated long before the flow of rock occurs. Therefore,
better models are necessary to predict the squeezing potential and its
degree of rocks together with a physical interpretation of the state of
squeezing rocks about the tunnels.
In the first half of this paper, the squeezing phenomenon of rock
around tunnels and its mechanism and associated factors are clarified by
studying carefully observed failures in-situ and in laboratory model tests.
Then, an extensive survey of tunnels in squeezing rocks in Japan is pre-
sented and the results of this survey are summarised. In the second half of
the paper, a new method is proposed to predict the squeezing potential and
deformations of tunnels in squeezing rock. Then, the method has been
applied to actual tunnelling projects, where squeezing problems encoun-
tered, to check its applicability and validity. As a concrete example, an
application of the method to predict the squeezing potential and deforma-
tions of the rock along a 300 m long section of an actual tunnel is given and
compared with actual observations.
I Jill
a b e
Complete shear failure, buckling failure, tensile splitting shearing and sliding
Fig. 1. Classification of failure forms of tunnels in squeezing rocks
140 0. Aydan et al.
section of Enrei tunnel where strata were heavily buckled. The rock was
thinly layered mudstone with a uniaxial strength of 4--4.2 MPa (Yamagu-
chi et al., 1982). The overburden of the tunnel at this section was varied
between 110--130 m and the competency factor was ranging 1.3--1.6. The
closure of the tunnel was more than 1000 mm.
c) Shearing and sliding failure: It is observed in relatively thickly bed-
ded sedimentary rocks and it involves sliding along bedding planes and
shearing of intact rock as illustrated in Fig. 1 c. This type of failure was
reported during the excavation of Navajo Irrigation Tunnel No. 3 (Sperry
and Heuer, 1979) and model tests of tunnels excavated in coal by Kaiser
(1979) and his co-workers (Kaiser et al., 1985).
The squeezing phenomenon may be mechanically treated as an elasto-
viscoplastic behaviour of the medium under the existing stress state (Akagi
et al., 1984; Gioda, 1982; Saari, 1982; etc.). In other words, it can only
occur when the rock is yielded by the redistributed state of stress following
the excavation of the tunnel. It is a physical process and involves the dilat-
ant behaviour of rocks.
The swelling phenomenon, on the other hand, is a chemical process
involved with the exchange of ions between some minerals and water. The
swelling p h e n o m e n o n takes more time to occur as compared with that in the
case of squeezing. For example, in Nabetachiyama tunnel in Niigata Prefec-
ture Japan, the invert of tunnel heaved and concrete lining started fracturing
within 6--12 months of its construction (Otsuka and Takano, 1980).
r o.t't r o_t,~
I~at~k iC (m) ~,~,g
c~ 3~o.
[
Fig. 3. An example ef data-sheet used in surveying
Eq. (1)
Z 9 :.. "-S---\
**t 9
(5
Z~
o 1'5 2o
UNIAXIAL STRENGTH crc (MPa)
Fig. 4. Uniaxial strength vs. unit weight
. P o i s s o n ' s r a t i o - - u n i a x i a l s t r e n g t h ( F i g . 5):
A s n o t e d f r o m F i g . 6, t h e P o i s s o n ' s r a t i o o f r o c k s t e n d s t o a p p r o a c h 0.5
as t h e u n i a x i a l s t r e n g t h a p p r o a c h e s z e r o . A s t h e s t r e n g t h i n c r e a s e s it
t e n d s t o c o n v e r g e a v a l u e b e t w e e n 0.2 a n d 0.25. T h e r e l a t i o n b e t w e e n
Poisson's ratio v and uniaxial strength G (MPa) of rocks can be fitted to
the following expression:
v = 0.25 (1 + e - ~ 1 7 6 (2)
144 O. Aydan et at.
99
9n
mmmni 9
ml 9 9
O
E . (2)
: \
Z 9 m 9 9 9
G~
ryl
5 10 1'5 2~
UNIAXIAL STRENGTH a~ (MPa)
Fig. 5. Uniaxial strength vs. Poisson's ratio
%
•
c484
0 5 10 1'5
UNIAXIAL S T R E N G T H ac (MPa)
Fig. 6. Uniaxial strength vs. elastic modulus
The Squeezing Potential of Rocks Around Tunnels 145
Vp = 1 . 4 + 0 . 2 o -o.7 . (4)
Eq. (4)
@
2
r~
1 :
0 5 I0
UNIAXIAL STRENGTH (r~ (MPa)
Fig. 7. Uniaxia] strength vs. elastic wave velocity
n I m
mE
9 .:..:
Z
9 .~lg i9
Z~- :~
@
i
-.: . : :.
r m 9 9 9 m
mm 9
9 W
. , i , J . i I
o 5 ab
z U N I A X I A L S T R E N G T H ere ( M P a )
Fig. 8. U n i a x i a l s t r e n g t h vs. n a t u r a l w a t e r c o n t e n t
146 O. Aydan et al.
Eq. (5)
r~
Z
N
0
J i
o lo 15 2'0
U N I A X I A L S T R E N G T H a~ ( M P a )
% O'C (MPa)
"2 14J ,, o no-squeezing
% ~ \\ % o 12 P ', o " - 9 squeezing
~, "'. "-+e o Io 1'~
>'~'-, "-,r o 101o ',{1
")o" "\ o o~
+i-. ,.~+o~ o s~ ~ +
51~'. ",. 6o I
. , oo o6 ~
IM ~ ~ o o o t-u
9 . .N ,, K-,o o~ + oor149 9y" 9 N.9 .N
" o"\~\ d-" o o I 9 9
D E P T H B" (m)
o N o~176 0 . \ 2
O ~ r v - , , , . , ~ ~x.\ o
,
+9 9 O9 o, ,N E,
r~-S'~'+ + -, , ; 9 9 9
l
9
i
O 9 9 9 J
460 300 :ZOO 9 100 0 29 4e 9 6 "N 8 .E 1'o 12
"E . "u .-..: :N
"b :;o. 9 e~(%)
~
9N "N N 9 i N
,y; " y, 9 9y 9
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o. . . . . 2
-~ ..............................
o
o
o
o o
o 11
ce cp cs Gf
@ @ @ @ @
I
Illl It I
r t It'
i
Fig. 11. Idealised stress-strain curves and associated states for squeezing rocks
The Squeezing Potential of Rocks Around Tunnels 149
during a complete test are illustrated as shown in Fig. 11 b. These five states
are characterized as:
1. Elastic state: Rock behaves almost linearly and no-cracking is visible.
2. Hardening state: Microcracking starts to occur and the orientations of
microcracks generally coincide with the maximum loading direction.
3. Yielding state: After exceeding the peak of the stress-strain curve,
micro-cracks tend to coalesce to initiate macro-cracks.
4. Weakening state: Initiated macro-cracks grow and align in the most crit-
ical orientations.
5. Flowing state: Macro-cracks along the most critical orientations com-
pletely coalesce and constitute sliding planes or bands, and fractured
material flows along these planes.
The following relations are established between normalised strain
levels rip, ris, ri/ obtained from normalising strain levels, ep, ~ , ~:. by the
elastic strain limit ee defined in Fig. l l a from the data shown in Fig. 12:
I
Z7- 9 - - 17P ---- Ce
F~
6- Ee
t. . . . . ,ls= Ee
..|
~4-
4 9 ~, Eq. (6)
i i\l i 9 i s ~" iA 9
~2 ai ~ 9 " - ---..a. s
~2
- "."~) . ~ ; -':--. .--:'-_ 9 c--.
Q
9
[]
Fig. 13. Conceptional states of surrounding rock around tunnels in squeezing rocks
4.2 An Analytical Model for Stress and Strain Fields About Circular Tunnels
where E:
v:
o-0 (l+v)(1-2v)
elastic m o d u l u s of rock,
Poisson's ratio of rock.
E
~
1-v
1 e0
(10)
O"
_
7"
//
~e r ~1
1
/ /
/- f
o- n
~3
1
Fig. 14. M e c h a n i c a l m o d e l for r o c k s
4.2.1 S t r e s s a n d S t r a i n F i e l d s
The derivations of stress and tangential strain fields for the elastic-perfect
and residual plastic behaviour of surrounding rock about circular openings
are given in the following (Fig. 15).
1. Residual plastic zone ( a <_ r <_ Rpb):
Inserting the yield criterion (12) in the governing Eq. (7) with o3 -- ar and
a~ = ao gives
da~ cr~ a*
- - (15)
dr +(l-q*) r -
ar = C r q* - I q*cr*
- 1" (16)
C= pi-t- q , ~ aq, 1.
The Squeezing Potential of Rocks Around Tunnels 153
9 E
Po
4 ~
elastic region
0",. = Pi + q. _ 1 q * -- 1
Crr = C r q - 1 (23)
q-l"
The integration constant C is obtained from the boundary condition o-~
= o-reat r = Rpp as
C= Ore+ q - - - - l R~71"
Since the derivation of the tangential strain is similar to the previous case,
the final expression takes the following form:
1. Elastic state:
T a n g e n t i a l strain at tunnel wall can be o b t a i n e d as
l+v
e~ - E (Po - Pi) (32)
I f the tunnel is strained to its elastic limit, then 03 = o-c with Pi = 0. Thus,
we have the elastic strain limit as:
l+v a~
~ - E 2 " (34)
Using the above relation in Eq. (32), one obtains the n o r m a l i s e d tunnel
wall strain as:
1 B
-- e --2 -Cg"
~ _ 1, (35)
C0
Using Eqs. (37) and (39), one obtains the normalised tunnel wall strain as:
ea
cc -1
7],,- q+ 1 -- 1) ~?~-1 q -- 1 + q * ~ (40)
gg*
fl+ q*-I
where
Po
4.3 Procedure How to Use the Proposed Method for Circular Tunnels in
Hydrostatic State of Stress
H- 2),(q--1) (q + 1 ) -2 . (42)
Inserting the specific values of 1, 77p,r],r such as those given by Eq. (6) in
place of ~ in Eq. (42) will yield the overburden depths for each transition
boundary between various states in relation to the strength of rock. A chart
in the space of H - crc has been computed and drawn as shown in Fig. 16 a.
16"
z it
.<
12 1
cD I!
i-I
r~
Z
\-\
Z
~ 4'
\,
bt
0 NS
2 ~ 5 6 7
0
\
100
l \ ".
"%, ~ NS
200'
\. -,
\ - LS
\
~,.. FS
300
\
HS
400'
If the uniaxial strength of rock and the overburden depth are speci-
fied, the squeezing potential of the tunnel and its degree can be easily
assessed from the chart as shown in Fig. 16.
~=~*
N 7-
f=f*=2.0
7~=20 k N / m 3
s- ~7 =3"0
5- ~=0,5
~4-
z 3_
In the next parametric study, it is assumed that fl = 0 and ~7,f= 3.0 and
the normalised tunnel wall strain was calculated by varying the compet-
ency factor cr for various values of the friction angle of rock (Fig. 18). The
values of parameters used in calculations are given in Table 4. As expected,
the normalised tunnel wall strain increases as the competency factor and
the friction angle decrease.
\ \ \ 4/ kN/m3
\ \ \ s =30
= .
,m o no squeezing
20-lu 11
II.1 9 small ,,
/',1 -medium ,'
,,
%~ |',/
Ii,I 9
~/, .
"' 9 EnasanTunnellI
I' \ ,:
I ' , '~F S \
4 -~ .\ : 1I ,
s., --~ []
o ~ , T 27.72~,_--.-.-.-~=-.
:,~ ~o~o ~ ~-o~o~--~
\~..,,.x..._ o o I ~ o'. (Men)
~',-'~'~ o I-
\. "4. ~ , os
~oo- .\ .... ....40 o
mx "~ i~ NN
mm \ " .?
300' 9 ~. FS
o t
---.--,---.---.__ .| i
\
9
,,
9 IIS
400'
Fig. 19. Comparison of predictions on the squeezing potential of tunnels with observations
tions along the tunnel alignment consisted of tuff and mudstone of ter-
tiary period. In the squeezed section, the rocks contained Na-type mont-
morillonite with a range of 10--60%. The strength data along the tunnel
alignment are scarce. However, an elastic wave velocity zoning was avail-
able. Therefore, we used the distribution of elastic wave velocities of
rocks to obtain the u n i a x i a l strength of rocks from Eq. (4) and other
required data from Eqs. (1--3), (5), (6) for calculations and predicted the
squeezing potential of rock and its degree. Figure 20a shows the elastic
wave distribution zoning along the analysed section. Figure 20b shows
the predicted squeezing potential of surrounding rocks together with
observed tangential strain levels. As noted from the figure, the calcula-
tions closely predict the actual performance of surrounding rocks. G o o d
agreement between predictions and observations suggests the validity and
reliability of the proposed method.
162 O. Aydan et al.
1 2 ~ 1.6
~ el
2.5 2.4 . 2.4~2.4~2.4V1.72~ a
0 I 1 I
97-{-00 98+00 99-+-00 100+00
10-
9- - - Predicted
z
8- --+-- Measured Jl
' i, IIl'
< 7- ii
HS ~ H~ 1! 9 ii
6- I
5-
g 4- t ', ;2 ~',FS
'+-_4 '~ FS
z
z ,%. !
NS ] ~NS '~S~-- ~NS ; LS
Fig. 20. Elastic wave velocity distribution and the predicted squeezing potential of rocks of a
300 m long section of Orizume tunnel
6. Conclusions
The present study clarified the squeezing phenomena of rock around tun-
nels, its mechanism and associated factors by carefully studying failures
and observations of tunnels in Japan. Then a general method proposed to
predict the squeezing potential of rocks around tunnels and its degree and,
a specific application of the method to circular tunnels under hydrostatic
state of stress is described. The applicability and validity of the proposed
method have been checked by comparing the predictions with actual obser-
vations. Finally, the method was applied to predict the squeezing potential
and deformations of the rock along a 300 m long section of an actual tun-
nel. It is found that the predictions by the proposed method well agree with
observations.
References
Akagi, T., Ichikawa, Y., Kuroda, T., Kawamoto, T. (1984): A non-linear rheological
analysis of deeply located tunnels. Int. J. Num. Anal. Meth. Geomech. 8,
107-- 120.
Aydan, 0., Ersen, A. (1985): Estimation of pressures acting on the supports of mine
shafts and roadways (in Turkish). Kaya Mekani~i Bfilteni, TSRM, Istanbul,
] (3), 21--34.
Aydan, 0. (1989): The stabilisation of rock engineering structures by rockbolts.
Ph. D. Thesis, Nagoya University, 240 pp.
The Squeezing Potential of Rocks Around Tunnels 163
Authors' address: Assoc. Prof. Dr. 0mer Aydan, Department of Marine Civil
Engineering, Tokai University, Orido, Shimizu, 424, Japan.