RESPONSE OF ROCK TUNNELS TO EARTHQUAKE SHAKING by Arnon Rozen B.Sc., Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (1965) Dipl.Ing, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (1969) 9 M.Sc., Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (1971) Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Civil Engineering at the Massachusetts Insiitute of Technology September 1976 fie, Pagrus. Signature of Author ... J 1976 Certified by Dbbodke Be ceeeeneseere Supervisor chairman, Departmental Committee on Graduate Students of the Department of Civil Engineering ( MAR 30. 1977)-2. RESPONSE OF ROCK TUNNELS TO EARTHQUAKE SHAKING by Arnon Rozen Submitted to the Department of Civil Engineering on September 1976. ABSTRACT The potential for damage resulting from earthquakes is a major factor to be considered in the siting of any structure whose failure would result in substantial loss of life and/or property. The thesis focuses on the evaluation of damage which may be caused in tunnels (larger than 3 meters, or 10 feet, in diameter) by ground shaking. The reason for this narrow focus is twofold: Firstly, it is assumed that other damage sources, such as ground failure or fault movement, may be minimized by careful siting; and secondly, it is of interest to compare the damage in tunnels to that which occurs in aboveground structures at the same intensity of ground shaking. It was felt that these questions must be answered by locating, studying, and summarizing all known case his- tories in which some level of damage to tunnels is reported. This feeling was based on the assumption that any analytical model must be checked with real field data. More than seventy cases were studied, and a correla- tion was made between the reported damage and the associated level of shaking. Several site factors, such as tunnel cross-section, depth of cover, ground conditions, etc. were studied. It was found that no damage occurred in tunnels associated with accelerations up to 0.19 g or MM-VIIT. Only a few cases of minor damage, such as falling of loose stones and/or cracking in brick or concrete linings, were observed in tunnels associated with accelerations up to 0.25 g (MM-VITI-IX). Tt was also found that most of the damage cases, still "minor damage" as described above,-3- were associated with accelerations above 0.4 g (MM-IX); and no case of collapse was associated with accelera- tions up to 0.7 g (almost MM-X). Local collapses or large distortions in tunnels were observed when a tunnel was sheared by fault displacement or where ground failure caused landslides near the portals. Based on these case histories, it is clear that tunnels suffered only “minor" structural damage while aboveground structures suffer from "considerable" damage at the same MM-intensity levels. However, tunnels ex- periencing accelerations greater than 0.85 g should be inspected to eliminate possible accidents associated with small debris. It is found by analysis of the case studies that (a) Tunnels in sound rock are safer than those in jointed rock or soil; (b) Stabilizing and improving ground con- ditions improves the ability of a tunnel to withstand earthquake shaking more than strengthening the linings; and (c) Deep tunnels are safer than shallow tunnels. Finally, deep tunnels in competent rock are safe during earthquake shaking up to MM-IX, and may be re~ commended for use as components in large-scale installa- tions such as nuclear power plants. Thesis Supervisor: Professor Charles H. Dowding Title: Assistant Professor