An Analytical Solution for Steel Plate Strengthened Circular Tunnels with Various Interface Slip Modes

Abstract

A simplified analytical solution for steel plate strengthened circular tunnel concrete linings is presented, considering various interface slip modes. The full derivation for the analytical solution is introduced in detail, from which explicit expressions for the stress and displacement fields throughout the system are obtained. The distribution of lining deformation, internal force, and the interaction stress between tunnel lining and steel plate were investigated by considering various tunnel-steel interface scenarios, namely no slip, full slip, and elastic slip. The result demonstrates the importance of having a well-bonded interface to maximize the benefits of the steel plate strengthening approach. The maximum interface shear stress locates at the position with minimum interface normal stress. Subsequently, the influence of interface shear stiffness and steel plate thickness on the composited tunnel lining performance was investigated. It is founded that the improvement of the interface shear stiffness can enhance the overall structural stiffness of the strengthened tunnel lining, which results in increases in the interaction stresses and lining forces simultaneously. With a ratio of the steel thickness to the tunnel lining thickness less than 0.1, greater achievement in both strengthening effectiveness and cost efficiency is obtained.