Analytical prediction of leakage-induced ground and tunnel response subject to tidal loading

Abstract

In this study, analytical solutions are developed to assess the hydraulic and structure responses of underwater tunnels by considering the tidal loading in conjunction with water ingress. Two scenarios are considered, that is, the surface water fluctuation (SWF) and groundwater variation (GWV). A single-step scheme is put forward to obtain the exact horizontal displacement developed at the springline with high efficiency. The proposed analytical method is verified by comparing the result from numerical simulations. A detailed parameter analysis is presented to investigate the effect of soil properties on the ground and tunnel behaviors as well as the discrepancies between these two hydraulic loadings. This study reveals that the underwater tunnel tends to act as drainage in the SWF condition whereas blockage for GWV. Much more intensive hydraulic and structure responses are observed under SWF than GWV, but both cases lead to slight tunnel deformations.