Module 6: Stresses around underground openings

LECTURE 20

6.2 STRESSES AROUND UNDERGROUND OPENING contd.

CASE 2: When σ x = 0

For σ x = 0 , the maximum tangential stress is three times the applied stress and occurs
at the boundary on the X-axis that is θ = 0 or π. When θ = π/2 and 3π/2, the tangential stress
at the boundary of the opening is equal to the applied stress but is of opposite in sign.

Figure 6.7. Tangential and radial stresses around circular openings when σ x =0

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Figure 6.8. Tangential stresses around the periphery of the circular openings when σ x =0

6.3 CIRCULAR HOLE IN AN ELASTO-PLASTIC INFINITE MEDIUM UNDER

HYDROSTATIC LOADING

Figure 6.9: Circular hole in an elasto-plastic infinite medium under hydrostatic loading
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Using Tresca’s yield criteria

 For a ≤ r ≤ c

r
s rp = 2hp ln
a
 r
s θ p 2hp 1 + ln 
=
 a

 For r ≥ c

 ha 2 
s r p 1 − 2 e(1− h ) / h 
=
 r 

 ha 2 
s θ p 1 + 2 e(1− h ) / h 
=
 r 

Here, σ r , σ rp = radial stress in elastic and plastic zone respectively

σ θ , σ θp = tangential stress in elastic and plastic zone respectively

a = radius of the circular opening

θ = central angle with x-axis

r = radial distance of the element from the center of the opening

c = ae(1-h) / 2h = radius of boundary between the elastic and plastic zones

p = applied hydrostatic pressure, compressive

h = k / p.

Elasto- Plastic Observations

• The tangential stresses at the boundary of cylindrical openings are considerably lower
for the elasto-plastic rock mass than for a perfectly elastic one.
• The tangential stresses beyond the plastic zone are larger than the perfectly elastic
case at the same radial distance
• The zone of influence due to opening is larger than that in the case of perfectly elastic
rock.
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Figure 6.10: The stress distribution along the axes of symmetry in elasto-plastic medium

Figure 6.11: The stress distribution around the circular excavation in elasto-plastic
medium

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6.4 PLASTIC BEHAVIOUR AROUND TUNNELS

When the tangential stress around an opening is greater than about one- half of the
unconfined compressive strength, cracks will begin to form. At large depth, such rock failure
can cause violent bursts. Weak rocks like shale reach the condition for rock cracking at small
depths. In such rocks, new cracking may initiate further loosening as water and air cause
accelerated weathering. The zone of broken rock is driven deeper into the walls by the
gradual destruction of rock strength. As a result, the load on the tunnel support system will
increase and the supports experience a gradual build up in pressure known as squeezing.
To gain a better understanding of the mechanics of a squeezing tunnel and to provide
an analytical framework to provide appropriate support systems, the theoretical model
proposed by Bray (1967) can be considered.
The following are the assumptions made in the elastic- plastic model proposed by Bray
(1967) so that it can be applied to field problems,
• The failure of rock is by Mohr-Coulomb theory.
• State of stress is axis- symmetric i.e., k=1.
• Within the plastic zone, which extends to a radius R, Bray assumed the fractures were
log spirals inclined at δ degrees with the radial direction.

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Figure 6.13: Conditions assumed in Bray’s (1967) elastic-plastic solution

Bray’s solution of log spirals is acceptable in shales and clays. For minimum strength, the
appropriate value of δ is 45+ϕ/2, where ϕ is the angle of internal friction of the intact rock. It
proves useful to define a quantity Q given by:

tan δ
Q= −1
tan(δ − φ j )

where, ϕ j is the friction angle for a joint.

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Assuming that the broken rock inside the plastic zone contains log-spiral surfaces with shear
strength characteristics τ p = S j + σ tan ϕ j , the radius R of the plastic-elastic zone boundary is
given by:

φ
2 p − qu + [1 + tan 2 (45 + )]S j cot q j 1
R = a( 2 )Q
q
[1 + tan 2 (45 + )]( pi + S j cot q j )
2

Where, p is the initial rock stress, a is the radius of the opening, ϕ is the angle of internal
friction of the intact rock, ϕ j is the friction angle for a joint, S j is the cohesion, q u is the
unconfined compressive strength of the intact rock, p i is the internal pressure in the tunnel
provided by the supports.
Bray’s solution for radial and tangential stresses in the elastic zone is as follows:
σ r = p-(b/r2)
σ θ = p+(b/r2)

φ
{([tan 2 (45 + ) - 1] × p + q u ) × R 2
where, b = 2
2 φ
[tan (45 + ) + 1]
2

The radial and tangential stresses in the plastic zone is defined by,

σ r = (p i + S j cot ϕ j )(r/a)Q - S j cot ϕ j

σ θ = (p i + S j cot ϕ j )[ tan δ/ tan (δ- ϕ j )](r/a)Q - S j cot ϕ j

For various values of r, the values of σ r and σ θ are found out, plotted and compared
with Kirsch solution shown in Figure 6.14. From the plot, it is evident that for some distance
behind wall, the tangential stresses lower than that predicted by elastic theory, thereafter they
are higher.

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Figure 6.14: Stresses around the yielding tunnel given in the example (After Bray, 1967)

The plastic behavior of the region near the tunnel has the effect of extending the
influence of the tunnel considerably farther into the surrounding rock. In the wholly elastic
case, the tangential stresses would have fallen to only 10% above the initial stresses at a
radius of 3.5 times the tunnel radius but in the elastic-plastic case, the elastic zone stresses are
70% higher than the initial stresses at this distance and 10 radii are required before the stress
falls down to 10% of initial stress. Thus, two tunnels that do not interact with one another in
elastic ground might interact in plastic ground.

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6.5 ZONE OF INFLUENCE

Zone of influence of an excavation is very important for underground tunneling and

mining applications where multiple excavation/ tunnels are excavated. With considerable
simplification of a design problem, idea is to get the domain of significant disturbance of the
excavation stress, and get the stresses near field and far field of an opening. Stress
distribution around a circular hole in hydrostatic medium,

 a2 
s r p 1 − 2 
=
 r 

 a2 
s θ p 1 + 2 
=
 r 

τ rθ = 0

at r =5a , σ θ = 1.04p σ r = 0.96p

At r = 5a, the state of stress is not significantly different (within 5%) from the field stress

σ/p σθ/p

σr/p
a
2 3 4 5

Figure 6.15: Radial and tangential stresses corresponding to different radial distance in
a hydrostatic stress field

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Table 6.1: Tangential and radial stresses corresponding to different radial distance in
hydrostatic stress field

Distance from centre (r) Tangential stress (σ θ ) Radial stress (σ r )

a 2P 0

2a 1.25P 0.75P

3a 1.11P 0.88P

4a 1.06P 0.94P

5a 1.04P 0.96P

Figure 6.16 shows a closer examination of the deformations induced in the rock mass by the
excavation of the underground powerhouse and transformer gallery. It is seen that, the
smaller of the two excavations is drawn towards the larger cavern and its profile is distorted
in this process. This distortion may be reduced by relocating the transformer gallery and by
increasing the spacing between the galleries.

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