Parallel tunnel settlement characteristics: a theoretical calculation approach and adaptation analysis

Settlement evaluation is important for shallow tunnels in big cities to estimate the settlement that occurs due to the excavation of twin tunnels. The majority of earlier research on analytical solutions, on the other hand, concentrated on calculating the settlement for a single tunnel. This research introduces a procedure to evaluate the settlement induced by the excavation of twin tunnels (two parallel tunnels). In this study, a series of numerical analysis were performed to validate the analytical solution results. Two geological conditions were considered to derive the settlement depending on each case. The analytical and numerical methods were compared, which involved considering many sections and conducting a parametric study; the results have good agreement. Moreover, a comparison of the 3D flat model and 2D (FEM) with the analytical solution shows that in the fill soil, the maximum settlement values were obtained by the analytical solution. In contrast, the values obtained by the analytical solution in the rock is more conservative than those in the fill. Finally, this method was shown to be appropriate for twin tunnels dug side by side by utilizing finite element analysis 3D and 2D (PLAXIS 3D and PLAXIS 2D) to verify the analytical equations. Eventually, it will be possible to use this approach to predict settlement troughs over twin tunnels.