Effects of heterogeneity of geomechanical properties on tunnel support stress during tunnel excavation

Okazaki, Yasuyuki*; Hayashi, Hisashi*; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Morimoto, Shingo*; Shinji, Masato*

Proceedings of 5th ISRM Young Scholars' Symposium on Rock Mechanics and International Symposium on Rock Engineering for Innovative Future (YSRM 2019 and REIF 2019) (USB Flash Drive), 6 Pages, 2019/12

In the design of tunnel support, the behavior of the rock mass around a tunnel and the stress acting on the tunnel support may be predicted using a numerical analysis. However, in such a numerical analysis, it is common to assume that each stratum comprises a homogeneous material, ignoring the heterogeneity of the geomechanical properties inherent to the rock mass. For this reason, it is not unusual for the results of the numerical analysis to differ from the actual behavior. We performed a tunnel excavation analysis considering the heterogeneity of the geomechanical properties in the rock mass to investigate the local increase in the tunnel support stress obtained in the 350 m gallery at the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory. The results revealed that, in order to predict the locally increased support stress in advance, it is necessary to carry out a tunneling excavation analysis considering the heterogeneity of the geomechanical properties. It was also revealed that the scale at which the geomechanical properties fluctuate is an important factor.