A New Procedure for Construction Metro

Station in Non-cemented Soil: A Numerical

Investigation

Mahsa Firouzi and Hamed Bayesteh(&)

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Qom, Qom, Iran

h.bayesteh@qom.ac.ir

Abstract. According to the development of societies and increase of popula-

tion, the use of underground spaces has been developed in the past decades. The
high cost of construction of the urban space such as metro stations, leads to
increase the demand for tunnels in big urban. Thus, an economical method
should select to build these structures. One of the popular and flexible under-
ground construction methods is New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM).
When NATM is implemented in big cross section, face is divided in to tem-
porary section. This method includes Central Diaphragm (CD) method, Side
wall Drift (SD) method, Pile-Beam-Arch method and etc. In the non-cemented
soil, the settlements due to the excavation sequences maybe leads to damage to
nearby structures. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the effective factor of
controlling tunnel-induced settlements and change the construction stages dur-
ing excavation. A lot of numerical studies have been done on NATM in urban
areas that often deal with the simulation of tunnels and small sections. In this
paper, a number of Finite Difference Method analyses were conducted to
evaluate the effects of different patterns for advancing the tunnel face on the
settlement in NATM station construction in the non-cementation soil. Con-
structing a station is considered as a big section. Induced displacements are
empirically controlled by adjusting the speed of excavation, installing support
and partial-face excavation.

1 Introduction

With increasing urban population and increasing transportation problems, the con-
struction of underground spaces and subway is developing. These spaces are often built
close to the ground to make passengers easier to access and reduce investment and
operational costs. These structures are often built in non-cemented ground and with a
low overburden, which will cause sensitivities and problems. The control of settlement
in urban areas is very important. The need for settlement control has been widely
known and new construction methods have been developed (Farias et al. 2004). A key
factor in the successful completion of a project in the tunneling in metropolitan cities is
the proper design and construction method of a tunnel, which will greatly affect the
costs and completion time of the project.
Generally, tunnel construction can be divided into two mechanized and traditional
categories. Several factors are involved in the selection of each of these methods, such

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M. Barman et al. (eds.), Transportation and Geotechniques: Materials,
Sustainability and Climate, Sustainable Civil Infrastructures,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95768-5_6
 A New Procedure for Construction Metro Station … 57

as project finance, technical experience of the design and implementation team,

environmental issues, etc. (Sharifzadeh et al. 2013). In these days the use of TBM is
developing, but because of the high cost of installation, it is profitable for tunnels with
considerable length. Consequently, traditional methods use in difficult conditions, short
height spaces and variable sections (Kolymbas 2003).
Because stations are short height spaces, they are constructed by traditional
methods. In these category, there are two methods for constructing the underground
station: cut & cover and underground methods. If there is enough space on the ground
and the station is shallow cut & cover is selected otherwise underground method is
used. NATM is a flexible method that is compatible with complex and various con-
ditions (Sharifzadeh et al. 2013) so it is suitable for constructing stations. In this
method, generally face is excavated in multi-stage because the section of station is
large.
The three principles of NATM are: 1. Soil or rock mass should be considered an
active part of the tunnel that can sustain part of load. Soil conditions may improve by
grouting, anchor and so on. To reduce the stress, the shape of the tunnel should be
optimized. Usually, to reduce the settlement. 2. Lining should be installed optimally to
complete support capacity and reduce deformation. Lining should work like a thin wall
and be flexible and strong enough to absorb the shear and moments. Shotcrete is
suitable for this purpose. 3. The third principle relates to the instrument. Design is
based on experience, but the excavation method may change during construction based
on measured data (Farias et al. 2004).
A lot of numerical studies have been done on NATM in urban areas that often deal
with the simulation of tunnels and small sections. In this study, a numerical method has
been used to simulate a station with large section using underground excavation
method, and the results have been presented.

2 Geological and Geotechnical Specification

Here a case study is simulated using underground method. The station section has a
width of 17.4 m and a length of 18.4 m. According to studies, Soil in this area is
predominantly SC, SM, GP-GM, GC, GM and GW. In this site, according to the
standard penetration and results of laboratory tests and statistical surveys, regardless of
the first 4-m soil, the soil is relatively homogeneous. The characteristics of the soil
layers are given in Table 1.

Table 1. Characteristics of the soil layers

Depth c Modulus Modulus Poisson Cohesion Internal K0
(m) (kPa) secant unloading ratio (kPa) friction
(MPa) (MPa) angle (°)
0–4 17 20 60 0.2 10 29 0.52
4–18 19.5 150 750 0.2 40 38 0.38
18–23 20 200 1000 0.2 10 40 0.36
>23 20.7 250 1250 0.2 30 39 0.37
58 M. Firouzi and H. Bayesteh

3 Construction Process

The station is constructed by NATM and because of large cross section, it is excavated
partially. Different methods of excavating have been developed in this way, like Side
Drift, Ring-Cut and Central Diaphragm methods. In order to determine the sequences
of excavation, according to the soil conditions and stress ratios, Yu and Chern (2007)
proposed the diagram in Fig. 2 based on the span size and the ratio of axial com-
pressive strength to vertical stress enters the tunnel. Based on this diagram, the Side
Drift method is selected for excavating (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Diagram for selecting a suitable excavation method [9]

The construction process includes excavation and installing a temporary support.

First, the drifts are excavated (Fig. 2a). After excavating the upper stage, the temporary
lining is implemented. The temporary lining is included shotcrete, two set of mesh and,
lattice girder in 1 m distances. Shotcrete of walls has a thickness of 40 cm and the
temporary invert with a thickness of 15 cm (Fig. 2b). In this stage, 6 length nail and
micropiles are installed in 1 m distances. Micropiles are 8 and 10 m length and include
one rebar with 25 mm diameter and casing with 76 mm diameter and 5 mm thickness.
After it, top heading is excavated and supported. The excavation continues as it is
shown in the Fig. 4. At the end, bench and invert are excavated and supporting ring is
closed (Fig. 2e to h). The nails used at one side because there is a structure at the right
side of the station.

4 Simulation of Finite Element

Based on the nature of the problem and the distribution of stresses and displacements
numerical analysis includes two-dimensional and three-dimensional analyzes
(Sharifzadeh et al. 2013). In this study, a cross-section was selected in the middle of the
station and in a place that there aren’t any intersections. It is assumed that there is the plane
strain condition and it is simulated by FLAC 2D software. It is explicit finite difference
program and plastic hardening model, used here, is a new model provided in it.
In many cases, specific assumptions consider the effect of face. In this paper by
using convergence-confinement method (stress relief method) the effect of the third
 A New Procedure for Construction Metro Station … 59

Fig. 2. Construction process (a–h)

dimension is considered. In this theory, the stress entered into the tunnel is gradually
reduced, and by plotting the reduction factor versus distance from the face, the
appropriate reduction factor is obtained (Karakus 2007).
The boundaries are considered far from the model so it is not affected by the
analysis, and, on the other hand, the size of model and meshes are adjusted that the
volume and time of the calculations will not be much (Fig. 3(a)). The ground stress of
first set up is shown in Fig. 3(b). Based on this figure the stresses are uniform and first
setup is correct.
Here, the constitutive model is plastic hardening with Mohr-Coulomb failure cri-
terion. Plastic hardening model is a shear and volumetric hardening constitutive model
for simulating of soil behavior. This model is described by the hyperbolic stress-strain
relationship during drained axial compression, and the dependence of stiffness on stress
is determined by a power. This model also includes shear and volumetric hardening
rules and is based on the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion (FLAC manual v.8). The

Fig. 3. (a) Finite difference model, (b) Fist set up

60 M. Firouzi and H. Bayesteh

necessary parameters in this model include density, Modulus secant, modulus

unloading, Poisson ratio, Cohesion and friction angle. These parameters are selected
based on tests in laboratory.
After first setup, the first stage is excavated. It is relaxed up to desired value then
the support system is installed. The amount of stress relaxation obtained is based on
Hooke’s relationships. These relationships are simplified for a circular tunnel under
hydrostatic stress. Inductive deflection in the tunnel depends on the relative strength of
the ground to the stress. To find the amount of relaxation, the excavation of the first
drift is discussed. Based on the Hook’s formula, the maximum radius of the plastic
zone obtain 5.4 meters and, according to the longitudinal profiles provided by
Vlachopoulos and Diederichs (2009), the displacement ratio to the maximum
displacement is 5.5 and the radial deformation of tunnel is the 10 mm (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. Longitudinal displacement Profile [3]

Figure 5 shows the ground curve of the first excavation step (Fig. 4a). This plot
depicts the displacement of the tunnel, without support, behind the face against the
pressure of the ground relative to the in situ stress. According to this curve, as the
tunnel face advances studied section, the internal pressure of the tunnel decreases and
goes far to zero. According to this figure, for the displacement of 10 mm, the stress
relaxation rate is about 30%. Because of simplified assumptions it isn’t accurate and
according to experiences, here it is increased to 40%. Then the supporting system,
simulated by structural element, is installed.
To select excavation schemes 2 items are studied. They are shown in Fig. 6. The
maximum settlement in both is almost the same (Fig. 7), but the amount of forces in
(1) is smaller, so it is selected to implement.
 A New Procedure for Construction Metro Station … 61

Pi/p0

ui

Fig. 5. Characteristic curve of stage 1

Fig. 6. The excavation schemes

The displacement contours and forces of the supporting elements are shown in
Figs. 8, 9, 10 and 11. The maximum displacement in the tunnel crown is 4 cm because the
overburden is 10 meters the displacement is a bit much. Also displacement is moved to the
right of the station, because of the asymmetry of supporting system. The maximum force
of shotcrete was 1300 kN and its maximum moment is 65 kN-m. The maximum force of
the micropiles and nails were 154 kN and 140 kN, respectively (Fig. 12).
62 M. Firouzi and H. Bayesteh

Fig. 7. Settlement of introduced excavation schemes (1) and (2)

Fig. 8. Verical displacement contour

 A New Procedure for Construction Metro Station … 63

Fig. 9. Axial force in temporary lining

Fig. 10. Bending moment in temporary lining

64 M. Firouzi and H. Bayesteh

Fig. 11. Axial force in micropiles

Fig. 12. Axial force in nails

 A New Procedure for Construction Metro Station … 65

Fig. 13. Safety factor of (a): moment, (b): shear of station

The interaction of moment-thrust yield envelope and thrust-shear yield envelope of

shotcrete and lattice are shown in Fig. 13(a, b). According to this figure the values are
in allowable range, so the characteristic of temporary lining is acceptable.

5 Conclusions

In this study, a numerical method has been used to simulate a station with large section
using underground excavation method. The convergence-confinement method (stress
relief method) is used and the effect of the third dimension is considered. We select the
construction scheme based on time and settlement. The results indicated that NATM
method is a applicable for excavation large underground spaces such as a metro station.

Acknowledgments. The authors thanks the personals of the Metro Company for consulting.

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