Excavation of Swelling Rock by Measuring The Displacement Under Roadbed
Excavation of Swelling Rock by Measuring The Displacement Under Roadbed
Excavation of Swelling Rock by Measuring The Displacement Under Roadbed
ABSTRACT: Recently, in some in-service tunnels, roadbed heaving caused by swelling and
squeezing has damaged the invert concrete. In many of these cases, it is presumed that road-
bed displacement was undergoing during construction and the displacement should have been
measured and managed. However, it is difficult to accurately grasp the roadbed displacement.
Therefore, in the tunnel under construction, the displacement convergence of the whole tunnel
is judged from the inner section displacement of the arch part and the like. Then, we newly
developed a system which can accurately measure the roadbed displacement during construc-
tion, and applied it to the Sankichiyama Tunnel. It was consequently discovered that only the
roadbed was significantly raised after inner section displacement of the arch part converged.
In this paper, we report the case of roadbed displacement measurement using this new system,
and also quantitatively evaluate the measures against heaving by analytical method using
measurement data.
1 INTRODUCTION
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Figure 1. Geological profile.
This tunnel is located in the west wing of Mount Zao, a member of the Ou mountain range,
which bisects the Tohoku region from east to west. “Mount Zao” is the general name for a
belt of volcanoes along the boundary between Yamagata and Miyagi prefecture. The tunnel
passes through the foothills of a mountain spur that splits off the west wing of the ridgeline of
this volcano belt and the alluvial fan formed in the adjoining valley with a shallow rock cover-
ing. The rock covering the tunnel is 156.3 m deep at the thickest point and 14.5 m deep at the
thinnest point, excluding the tunnel mouths.
The bedrock in the area is composed of the Yoshino Layer, dating from the Miocene Epoch
of the Neogene Period, and the Hayama Layer, dating from the Pliocene Epoch, covered by a
quarternary stratum on the surface. The Hayama Layer consists of strata of tuff breccia layers
(Htb) and andesite layers (Han). The tunnel cuts through these layers; near the middle, the
tunnel encounters extrusions of rhyolite (Yry) from the Yoshino Layer (Figure 1).
The andesite is charcoal grey in color and is slightly porous but very hard; it is used to develop
cooling joints such as columnar joints and block joints. The lighter grey tuff breccia is a non-
stratified block composed of andesite fragments, ranging in diameter from a few centimeters to a
few dozen centimeters, locked in a weakly compacted matrix, and while the rock fragments
themselves were soft, the bedrock was deemed favorable for supporting the tunnel face.
3.1 Topography/geology
The displacement in this tunnel occurred along a 65.4-m extension (STA.205+16.80-STA.205
+82.75) approximately 2300 m from the tunnel mouth. The rock covering this section is 66 m
deep at its thickest point, and during the design phase, it was predicted that this section would
be composed of hard andesite, with an elastic wave velocity of 4.0–4.2 km/s. However, during
excavation, localized protrusions of tuff breccia (Htb), which were not predicted during the
design phase, appeared crossing the tunnel face (Figure 2). This tuff breccia was greenish grey
in color, and the matrix had been transformed into clay through hydrothermal alteration, ren-
dering its characteristics evidently different from those of the tuff breccia (Htb), which had
appeared previously. In addition, approximately 200 L of spring water/minute flowed out of
the juncture with the andesite (Han) layers, causing frequent cave-ins at the tunnel face and a
steep drop in the stability of the cutting surface.
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Figure 2. Geological condition in the displaced section.
Figure 3. Deformations in the sprayed Figure 4. Side wall displacement measurement results.
concrete.
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3.4 Displacement rectification work
Rock bolts are effective against ground swelling, and can restrain the ground if poured as
early as possible after excavation. However, it is considered that, in conjunction with the
increased looseness of the ground, the pattern bolts (3.0 m) poured during excavation were
not sufficiently effective, and longer rock bolts (6.0 m) were deemed necessary. As deform-
ation was greater along the horizontal traverse line, three longer rock bolts were poured
between each of the pattern bolts on the left and right side walls.
In addition, the sprayed concrete invert was installed at a thickness of 20 cm at the bot-tom
edge of the invert concrete. While tunnel supports are not closed by invert concrete, structural
resistance is not sufficient to retain the ground. Therefore, it was believed that the tunnel sup-
port needed to be closed as quickly as possible. Then, sprayed concrete in-vert, which is easily
workable and can quickly develop support function, was used to close the cross-sectional sup-
port structure. The remedial construction is shown in Figure 5.
Figure 6 shows the results of the STA.205+65 measurements. Immediately after excavation,
displacement from the inner displacement had already surpassed 50 mm (management level
III). The additional longer rock bolts reduced the speed of the displacement slightly, but
owing to an increase in the creep displacement regardless of the distance from the tunnel face,
the sprayed concrete invert was introduced to stop the displacement.
Ultimately, the inner displacement showed a convergence trend, and the displacement did
not increase even after tunnel excavation was resumed. Therefore, the ground was deemed sta-
bilized, and back-stitching was conducted to secure the inner needed space.
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Figure 7. Octagonal diagram of laboratory rock test results.
Among methods for judging whether an invert should be installed in relatively hard CII
bedrock, an index to determine swelling potential has been proposed (Ohshima et al. 2001).
According to this proposal, the laboratory rock test was conducted for this tunnel to deter-
mine the swelling potential of the ground via the shape of an octagonal diagram showing the
level of water impact and amount of clay minerals contained. Tests were conducted on two
samples of tuff breccia (①, ②) and one sample of andesite.
The results of the tests are shown in Figure 7. The results of both X-ray diffraction and CE
tests show very high levels of expansive clay minerals (montmorillonite: Ca-type) throughout
the samples, and the slaking erosion degree also exceeds the standard values. In addition, the
moisture absorption rate of the tuff breccia (①, ②) shows a value approximately equal to the
standard, which is relatively higher than that of the andesite (③). Thus, it was judged that, for
this section of the tunnel, the possibility that the tuff breccia would constitute swelling ground
was high. While, it is believed that the andesite did not occur tunnel displacement owing to its
high strength level of the rock fragments.
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Figure 8. Outline diagram of invert displacement meter.
Owing to these factors, a system was developed to measure roadbed displacement during
construction without posing a hindrance to the passage of heavy machinery and vehicles, and
the new system was practically applied to this tunnel.
In this tunnel, invert displacement meters were installed at two locations (STA.205+55,
STA.205+73) where large displacement occurred at the time of excavation (STA.205+55,
STA.205+73). The results of the measurements are shown in Figure 9. Bulging exceeding
60 mm was recorded over a 50-day period, and cracks and other damage were observed when
the status of the sprayed concrete invert was checked.
In addition, the system also included installation of a meter to measure the distribution of
displacement, which attempted to measure vertical displacement every 0.5 m. The results, as
shown in Figure 10, demonstrate that the greatest amount of displacement was observed in
the center portion of the invert span. Thus, it was observed through this measurement that it
would be appropriate to install a sensor in the center, where the displacement was greatest.
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Figure 9. Invert displacement measurement results.
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First, the residual displacement within the primary seal-off construction was calculated
using the Voigt approximation formula. Second, the strength of future external force was pre-
dicted by frame structure analysis. Assuming that the external load would added uniformly on
the arch area and invert, the load value was calculated inversely which occurred the residual
displacement calculated above. Finally, the load was applied to the post-repair construction
design to check the initiation stress of the components.
dε
σ ¼ Eε þ η ð1Þ
dt
where ε0 shows strain at t=∞. By using Equation 2, it is possible to predict the displacement of
an invert in swelling ground over time. The forecast below was generated by substituting
load–displacement in place of stress–strain.
The change in displacement speed over time based on the results of this round of measure-
ments (Figure 9) is shown in Figure 12. The curves shown are matched as closely as possible
to the actual data for the two locations.
Based on the measurements from cases where an invert was repaired after the tunnel was
opened to the public, displacement speed ranges from a few millimeters per year to a few
dozen millimeters per year, approximately 1/10 the speed of the displacement in this tunnel.
Thus, it is believed that the amount and speed of displacement during construction were high
and were therefore easier to measure.
When this displacement speed approximation formula is integrated to calculate a displace-
ment–time relationship formula corresponding to Equation 2, a curve can be generated as
shown by the dotted line in Figure 13. Based on these results, the highest value predicted for
future residual invert displacement is shown to be 46 mm (Figure 14).
Figure 12. Change in displacement speed over time and best-fit curves.
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Figure 13. Change in displacement speed over time and best-fit curves.
initiation stress was observed to be nearly linear (Figure 15). From these results, it was
observed that the strut initiation stress in the event of the forecast maximum residual displace-
ment of 46 mm was approximately 60% of the yield stress. In addition, the sprayed concrete
initiation stress was approximately 20% of the design standard strength, thus verifying the
appropriateness of this remedial construction.
Subsequently, remedial construction was undertaken according to the design in Figure 11.
The spring water that appeared during the remedial construction work at the time of tunnel
face excavation was drained, causing a drop in the underground water table, and hence, no
spring water was detected in this round of construction.
After remedial construction on the roadbed bulging was completed, invert displacement
was measured, along with invert strut stress. Figure 16 shows the measurement results for the
significant bulging trend shown in Figure 9 alongside the measurement results following
remedial construction on roadbed bulging. It can be observed that the remedial construction
suppressed invert displacement to a significant degree. In addition, as shown in Figure 17,
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Figure 16. STA.205+55 invert displacement measurement results following roadbed pucker remediation.
though a maximum bending tensile stress of approximately 100 N/mm2 is initiated on the
center periphery invert struts, it is less than 25% of the yield stress, and this value is only
approximately 38% of the predicted value shown in Figure 15, and hence, the remedial con-
struction can be deemed sufficiently effective.
8 CONCLUSION
Significant roadbed bulging on swelling ground was measured during construction using the
newly developed invert displacement meter. Although remedial steps were taken at this loca-
tion at the time of tunnel excavation and inner displacement was brought to convergence,
these measurements demonstrated that the roadbed would continue to bulge significantly over
long-term use. Originally, ground displacement convergence was judged through A-measure-
ments, but this case study fully demonstrates the importance of the in-vert displacement
meter. In addition, it is believed to be very important for displacement to converge in order to
prevent roadbed deformation after the public opening of the tunnel by measuring invert dis-
placement at the points where large displacement occurs during tunnel excavation and under-
taking remedial construction reflecting these results during construction.
Breakthrough on this tunnel was reached on April 26th, 2017. It is hoped that the know-
ledge gained from this study will help accelerate the opening of this tunnel to Tohoku Chuo
Expressway traffic and be of use in the construction of future similar tunnels.
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Miyazawa, K., Yasuda, K., Suyama, K. & Watanabe, A. 2016. Installation of New Invert Using the
Whole-Surface Continuous Pressing Method under Day and Night Continuous Traffic Stoppage, Tun-
nels and Underground 47 (8):7-18.
Yamaguchi, U. & Nishimatsu, H. 1977. An Introduction to Rock Mechanics, Version 2, Tokyo: University
of Tokyo Press.
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