Investigating the influence of excavating a tunnel undercrossing an existing tunnel at zero distance

Abstract

In urban areas with limited underground space, the new tunnel construction introduces additional loads and displacements to existing tunnels, raising serious safety concerns. These concerns become particularly pronounced in the case of closely undercrossing excavation at zero-distance. The conventional elastic foundation beam model, which assumes constant reaction coefficients for the subgrade, fails to account for foundation loss. In this study, the existing tunnel is modeled as an Euler-Bernoulli beam supported by the Pasternak elastic foundation, and the foundation loss caused by zero-distance undercrossing excavations is considered. Furthermore, an analytical solution is proposed to evaluate the mechanical response in segments, by establishing governing differential equations and boundary conditions for the excavation and neutral zones, and underpinning loads are also considered. The analytical solution is validated in two case studies. Finally, a parametric analysis is performed to explore the influence of various parameters on the mechanical response of the existing tunnel.