A New Method for Calculating the Load Shared by the Primary Support of Deep-Buried Rheological Soft Rock Tunnels by Considering the Flexible Primary Support

Abstract

The gap between the theoretical solution of the load and the field measurement is too large to guide the support design while the primary support of deep-buried soft rock tunnels shares a large surrounding rock load. In this study, the flexible support effect of the primary support and the rheological effect of the surrounding rock were considered. The calculation procedure of load shared by the primary support when the surrounding rock is in the accelerated, uniform velocity and decelerated stages was proposed. Then, the reliability of the computational method of the study was verified by numerical simulation methods. The analysis shows that the surrounding rock in the accelerated, uniform and decelerated stages of the load sharing of the primary support presents increasing, unchanged and decreasing states and that the formation of the primary support load is mainly concentrated in the stage of accelerated movement of the surrounding rock. Enhancement of the primary support parameters, while significantly increasing the support safety factor, has a limited effect on reducing load shared by the primary support. Thus, it is recommended that the advanced support can be strengthened to reduce the pre-deformation of the surrounding rock in the unsure soft rock section to reduce the load shared by the primary support. The primary support design of tunnels with rheological rock should account for the long-term rheological load effect of the surrounding rock. The results of this study can provide guidance for the prediction of primary support load sharing for dynamic tunnel construction.