Analysis of the dynamic response and damage characteristic for the tunnel under near-field blasts and far-field earthquakes

Abstract

The dynamic response and failure characteristics of tunnels vary significantly under various dynamic disturbances. These characteristics are crucial for assessing structural stability and designing effective support for surrounding rock. In this study, the theoretical solution for the dynamic stress concentration factor (DSCF) of a circular tunnel subjected to cylindrical and plane P-waves was derived using the wave function expansion method. The existing equivalent blast stress wave was optimized and the Ricker wavelet was introduced to represent the seismic stress waves. By combining Fourier transform and Duhamel’s integral, the transient response of the underground tunnel under near-field blasts and far-field earthquakes was determined in both the frequency and time domains. The theoretical results were validated by comparing them with those obtained from numerical simulations using ANSYS LS-DYNA software. Numerical simulations were conducted to further investigate the damage characteristics of the underground tunnel and evaluate the effect of initial stress on structural failure under both types of disturbances. The theoretical and numerical simulation results indicated that the differences in the dynamic response and damage characteristics of the underground tunnel were primarily due to the curvature of the stress waves and transient load waveform. The locations of the maximum DSCF values differed between near-field blasts and far-field earthquakes, whereas the minimum DSCF values occurred at the same positions. Without initial stress, the blast stress waves caused spalling damage to the rock mass on the wave-facing side. Shear failure occurred near the areas with maximum DSCF values, and tensile failure occurred near the areas with minimum DSCF values. In contrast, damage occurred only near the areas with maximum DSCF values under seismic stress waves. Furthermore, the initial stress exacerbated spalling and shear damage while suppressing tensile failure. Hence, the blast stress waves no longer induced tensile failure on the tunnel sidewalls under initial stress.

Keywords

Dynamic response / Damage characteristics / Underground tunnel / Near-field blasts / Far-field earthquakes / Initial stress

Data availability

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

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Hao Luo: Writing - review & editing, Writing - original draft, Software, Methodology. Ming Tao: Supervision, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization. Zhixian Hong: Software, Investigation. Gongliang Xiang: Data curation. Chengqing Wu: Validation, Supervision.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgment

The research presented in this paper was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52334003 and 52274105) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Central South University (Grant No. CX20240263).

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