Study on bearing capacity of combined confined concrete arch in large-section tunnel

There are many challenges in the construction of large-section tunnels, such as extremely soft rock and fractured zones. In order to solve these problems, the confined concrete support technology is proposed to control the surrounding rocks. The large-scale laboratory test is carried out to clarify mechanical behaviours of the combined confined concrete and traditional I-steel arches. The test results show that the bearing capacity of combined confined concrete arch is 3217.5 kN, which is 3.12 times that of the combined I-steel arch. The optimum design method is proposed to select reasonable design parameters for confined concrete arch. The parametric finite element (FE) analysis is carried out to study the effect of the design factors via optimum design method. The steel pipe wall thickness and the longitudinal connection ring spacing have a significant effect on the bearing capacity of the combined confined concrete arch. Based on the above research, the confined concrete support technology is applied on site. The field monitoring results shows that the arch has an excellent control effect on the surrounding rock deformation. The results of this research provide a reference for the support design of surrounding rocks in large-section tunnels.