Application of Strength Reduction DDA Method in Stability Analysis of Road Tunnels

XIA CAICHU1,2 , XU CHONGBANG1,2, AND ZHAO XU3

1 Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China 2 Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education,

Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China 3 The Key Laboratory of Urban Security and Disaster Engineering, Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China

1. Introduction Surrounding rock of mountain tunnel is formed in nature under complex geological and tectonic forces in its evolution and formation progress, has numerous discontinuous interfaces such as joints, fractures, faults, folds and fractured rock zones with different sizes and geometric shapes. Rock mass integrity and uniformity are damaged by these interfaces and rock strength is reduced. The rock mass is cut into a non-continuum of rock blocks with various volume and shapes. Obviously, the discontinuity is of very important signicance to the mechanical property of rock mass. To understand such mechanical property is a primary problem in design tunnels economically and constructs them safely. Two major means in studying tunnel stability considering the rock mass discontinuity are model test and numerical analysis. Many researchers have carried out physical scaled model tests to study tunnel stability. Everling1 (1964) analyzed deformation property of supported jointed rock mass by physical scaled model tests; Hobbs2 (1969) proved that a mixture of sand, plaster and water can satisfy the requirements of material for physical model tests and studied the effects on tunnel stability made by orientation of joints and tunnel span. Goodman3 (1972) studied the deformation of tunnel in jointed rocks by model tests. Jiang4 (1984) studied tunnel stability under different joint occurrence. Zhu5 (1997) studied results of bolts strengthening of jointed rock tunnels in excavation. Song6 (2002) researched the effects on tunnel stability of joint spacing, orientation and the angle between fractures and tunnels. Though physical scaled model tests can be used in researching tunnel stability in jointed rocks under certain conditions, but are impossible to be adopted in studying all inuencing factors as they are hard to be repeated and costly. To overcome such disadvantages, numerical simulation can be used, which provides researchers a fast and convenient method. There are two main methods in discontinuous rock mass analysis, namely, the distinct element method (Cundall,7 1971) and discontinuous deformation analysis (Shi,8 1988). The later is adopted in this paper. MacLaughlin9 (1997) studied calculation accuracy of the discontinuous deformation analysis by modelling sliding of a block on a slope, whose results showed that by DDA computation, sliding displacement of the block could be accurately forecasted. McBride10 (2001) also proved the efciency of DDA by compare numerical computation with physical model tests. Michael11 (2006) carried out sensitivity analysis of parameters in DDA computation. Zhang12 (2008) studied the failure progress of semi-penetrative joints rock of tunnel.
Corresponding author. E-mail: xubang-2003@163.com

Analysis of Discontinuous Deformation: New Developments and Applications. Edited by Guowei MA and Yingxin ZHOU. Published by Research Publishing Services. Copyright c 2009 by Society for Rock Mechanics & Engineering Geology (Singapore). ISBN: 978-981-08-4455-4 doi:10.3850/9789810844554-0098

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2. Basic Principals of DDA Theory In DDA, each block of arbitrary geometry has six degrees of freedom, among which three components are rigid body motion terms and the other three are constant strain terms. ThereT fore, the deformation variable of block i can be written as u0 ,v0 ,r0 ,x ,y ,xy , where u0 ,v0 are the rigid body translations along the x, y direction; r0 is the rigid body rotation around cetroid (x0 ,y0 ) of the block; x ,y ,xy are the strain components. By the minimum energy principle, the general function of the system can be solved, the general function of the system is: =F KD Assuming that this system is composed of n blocks, we can have the function as follows: K11 K12 K1n D1 F1 K21 K21 K2n D2 F2 = = K , D = . , F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kn1 Kn2 Knn Dn Fn Where, Kij (i,j = 1,2, ,n) is a submatrix with 6 6 components and related to material properties of block i, Kij (i = j) is related to the interaction of block i and j; Di is the displacement vector of block i; Fj is the load on block i. 3. Strenght Reduction Method Combined with Catastrophe Theory 3.1. Catastrophe function of surrounding rock displacement from strength reduction method At rst, divide the value of rock strength parameters, cohesion C and internal friction angle , by a same factor F, according to the strength reduction method.13 Then a set of new parameter are obtained as C , . This new set of parameters will be used in computation again and displacement 0 can be obtained. C tan = arctan ( ) (1) F F Repeat this progress for n times. Displacement of these n times computation can be gained. For critical points of a tunnel, the relationship curve of their displacements and strength reduction factor can be tted by least square method, by which we can get a function between and F which is dened as the safety factor of the tunnel: C = = f (F ) This function can be described as a quintic polynomial with sufcient precision, so that we can get = a5 F 5 + a4 F 4 + a3 F 3 + a2 F 2 + a1 F + a0 (2) Where a0 , a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 , a5 are tting coefcients to be calculated out. The rst derivatives of Eq. (2) with respect to F can be written as Eq. (3), this is a cusp catastrophe potential function. V = 5a5 F4 + 4a4 F3 + 3a3 F2 + 2a2 F + a1
a4 5a5 ,

(3)

F = p q and substitute them into Eq. (3), terms with degree 3 can be Let q = eliminated and ignore constant term as the constant term dose not change the property of
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Eq. (4) V = b4 p4 + b2 p2 + b1 p
1 Then let p = b 4 into Eq. (4), we get
1 4

(4)
1 4

1 x while b4 > 0, or let p = b

x while b4 < 0, substitute them (5) (6)

V = x4 + ux2 + vx V = x4 + ux2 + vx Where u = b2 / b4 , v = b1 / 4 b4 .

Equations. (5) and (6) are standard potential function14 of canonical cusp catastrophe model and dual cusp catastrophe model whose control variables are state variables u and v. Their equilibrium surface and bifurcation graph are shown in Figures 1 and 2. 3.2. Failure criteria of tunnel surrounding rock stability According to theory of cusp catastrophe model, let the rst derivative of function V equals to 0, the following equations can be got: 4x3 + 2ux + v = 0 (canonical cusp catastrophe) 4x3 + 2ux + v = 0 (dual cusp catastrophe) (7) (8)

The critical points set dened by Eqs. (7) or (8) composed the equilibrium surface whose shape in space (x,u,v) are shown in Figures 1 or 2. The shape includes 3 parts including upper lobe, lower lobe and middle lobe, among which the former two are stable while the latter one is unstable. Phase points would change on the upper lobe (or the lower lobe) with equilibrium regardless their path. When the point reaches the edge of the upper lobe (or the lower lobe), it will jump abruptly across the middle lobe to the lower lobe (the upper lobe).
x u Upper leaf v Middle leaf Lower leaf x
Ba la nc e su rfa ce

Co nt ro lp la ne

u >0 v

<0

Figure 1. Canonical cusp catastrophe model.14

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cu rv ed

Analysis of Discontinuous Deformation: New Developments and Applications

Figure 2. Dual cusp catastrophe model.14

Thus, point with vertical tangent line at equilibrium lobes composes a catastrophe points set (singular points set) of certain status, whose function can be written as 2V = 12x2 + 2u = 0 (canonical cusp catastrophe) (9) x2 2V = 12x2 + 2u = 0 (dual cusp catastrophe) (10) x2 The projection of singular points set on plane dened by control variables (u,v) formed a bifurcation set which is a points set makes status variables catastrophe. Combine Eqs. (7) and (9), Eqs. (8) and (10) separately, eliminate x, we can get the following questions: = 8u3 + 27v2 and = 8u3 + 27v2 (11)

For displacement analysis based on strength reduction method of tunnel surrounding rock, a failure criterion can be dened as follows: while > 0, the tunnel surrounding rock is stable under the strength reduction factor; while = 0, the rock is at the critical status of stable to unstable; while < 0, the rock is failed. Thus the rock mass stability status can be judged according to the stable status of displacement data. 4. Application 4.1. Engineering background Jinjishan multiple-arch tunnel of the second phase project of Fuzhou city airport is a big span tunnel with eight trafc lanes, locates between milestone K22 + 235 to K22 + 630, the total length of which is 295m (Fig. 3). Span of a single tunnel is 18.2m and the cross section area of inner prole of a tunnel is 171.06 m2. The whole span of the multiple-arch tunnel is 41.9m and the height is 14.2m (Fig. 4). Middle wall of the tunnel is designed with 3 composite layers. The tunnel locates in an area of low mountains and hills with a complex ground surface. Surrounding rock of the main tunnel is composed of weak weathered granite, graniteporphyry and dioritic porphyrite, which is of a rather high strength but a poor integrity, can be classied as lever IV according to code for design of road tunnel in China (JTG
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Analysis of Discontinuous Deformation: New Developments and Applications

Figure 3. Geological prole of Jinjishan tunnel (Left tunnel).

Figure 4. Cross section of Jinjishan tunnel.

D70-2004). The surrounding rock at tunnel portal is composed of residual hillside waste and highly weathered rock, which is rather loose and classied as lever V. The maximum covering layer of rock IV is 46.7m and 36.0m of rock 36.0. 4.2. Parameters in computation and strength reduction factor There are two sets of joints in the surrounding rock which are oriented as 62 75 and 63 169 according to joint data collected during construction. Average intervals of these 2 sets of joint are 1.6m and 1.8m. Dimension of DDA numerical simulation model is 120.0m 80.0m. The covering layer is 30.0m. Mechanical parameters in computation are listed in Table 1. Mechanical computation Parameters of joints (internal friction angle, cohesive parameter and tensile strength of joints) are reduced according to the strength reduction method. Increscent of reduce factor for each computation in sequence is 0.01. The original reducing factor is 1.00 and the last factor after 31 computations is 1.30. Position of 9 critical points in the tunnel surrounding rock in computation was shown in Fig. 6.
Table 1. Surrounding rock parameters of Jinjishan tunnel. Rock Density/kN 20.0 Rock Elastic Modulus /GPa 1.5 Poissons ratio 0.28 Internal Friction Angle of Joints / 34.0 Cohesive Parameter of Joints/kPa 160.0 Tensile Strength of Joints/kPa 80.0

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Figure 5. DDA numerical simulation model.

Figure 6. Critical points.

Horizontal, vertical and total displacement of the critical points in Jinjishan tunnel surrounding rock under different strength reduction factor of joints are shown in Figures 79. According to these gures, the value of vertical displacements is about twice as much as that of horizontal displacement, so that vertical displacement should be the main object to be analyzed. Further, of all critical points, the vertical displacements at arch top are more sensitive to strength reduction factors. So, stability evaluation of Jinjishan tunnel will be made mainly based on analysis of arch top stability of surrounding rock.

4.3. Tunnel stability analyses The relationship between displacement of critical points and strength reduction method of Jinjishan tunnel arch top is shown in Figure 10. According to strength reduction method combined with catastrophe theory, this relation curve is tted and analyzed by the trinomial with degree 5, i = fi (F) (where i is the computation number and is bigger than 5). The results are shown is Table 2. As shown in Table 4, Safety factor of Jinjishan left tunnel judged by the strength reduction method combined with catastrophe theory is 1.10, and 1.16 of right tunnel. This means that the stable status of left tunnel is obviously smaller that the right tunnel under the 2 sets of joints with the orientation of 62 75 and 63 169 .
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Analysis of Discontinuous Deformation: New Developments and Applications

Figure 7. Horizontal displacement of critical points.

Figure 8. Vertical displacement of critical points.

Figure 9. Total displacement of critical points.

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Analysis of Discontinuous Deformation: New Developments and Applications

Figure 10. Relation between and F of critical point 3 and 7.

4.4. Discussion Two problems should be mentioned here in adopting the strength reduction method combined with strength reduction method: (1) Number of data samples. In tting the trinomial = a5 F5 + a4 F4 + a3 F3 + a2 F2 + a1 F + a0 , number of data samples should be at least 5. This means at least 6 computations of strength reduction method should be carried out to use the catastrophe theory. Or to say, stable displacements results should be performed in the rst 5 computations in strength reduction method. (2) Selection of critical pints in tunnel surrounding rock according to the orientation of joints. In discontinuous deformation analysis, deformation of a block is effected by the interaction of sides and numbers of surrounding blocks. Block chosen with critical points should be located at the tunnel free face and with the smallest number of surrounding contact blocks. For example (Fig. 11), there are 5 blocks can be chosen among which block 2 is hindered by block 1 and block 3 while moving downward and block 4 is hindered by block 3 and block 5. In all these 5 blocks, only block 3 and block 5 are subjected to the smallest resistance. Compare block 3 with block 5, the most satisfactory block to be adopted is block 3.

Figure 11. Possible blocks with critical points.

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Analysis of Discontinuous Deformation: New Developments and Applications

Table 2. Judgment on displacement catastrophe of critical point 3 and 7. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Strength reduction factor 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.1 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.2 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 Critical point 3 Judging value Stable status Critical point 7 Judging value Stable status

1.25 0.04 0.14 0.24 0.01 0.01 0.24 0.58 21.97 28.34 2.73 26.74 16.25 16.49 29.12 87.13 41.52 581.67 7704.77 758.02 3656.04 560.56 2939.17 8934.00 5988.02 5475.79

Stable

Unstable

9385.79 19757.71 73368.69 86245.58 59386.54 76176.73 136365.89 138751.59 0.08 0.02 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.14 0.11 0.05 0.04 0.32 0.45 0.47 0.51 0.21 0.82 2.13 5.03 12.17

Stable

Unstable

5. Conclusions The strength reduction method is used in discontinuous deformation analysis, and by displacement catastrophe theory, the catastrophe point is judged. Thus the safety factor of tunnel surrounding rock is decided. The following conclusions are obtained in the research: Cusp catastrophe theory provided a theoretical basis to judge the displacement catastrophe point of tunnel surrounding rock, which avoids the subjectivity in judging the point of sudden change. The strength reduction method combined with displacement catastrophe theory is feasible to evaluate the stability of tunnel surrounding rock. This method provided discontinuous deformation analysis and tunnel stability evaluation a new research way.
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Analysis of Discontinuous Deformation: New Developments and Applications

In studying tunnel surrounding rock stability by the strength reduction method combined with displacement catastrophe theory, at least 6 computations should be made. Blocks with critical points should be delicately chosen as those blocks with least number of contacting blocks at free face. Acknowledgements This study is sponsored by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation 50579088, 50639090. And thank Mr. Peng Yuwen and Mr. Guo Rui for their help in completing this paper. References
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