Rock Mech Rock Eng

DOI 10.1007/s00603-013-0542-0

ORIGINAL PAPER

A Closed-Form Solution for Tunnels with Arbitrary Cross Section

Excavated in Elastic Anisotropic Ground
Huy Tran Manh • Jean Sulem • Didier Subrin

Received: 11 November 2013 / Accepted: 27 December 2013

 Springer-Verlag Wien 2014

Abstract Closed-form solutions are of great interest for k Deconfinement rate used to
quick and accurate evaluation of stresses and displacements model the excavation process
around underground excavations. Based on complex vari- u, v Displacements along x-axis and
able theory and on the method of conformal mapping, y-axis respectively
closed-form solutions for stresses and displacements around Eh Young modulus plane of isotropy
deep tunnels with arbitrary cross section in a homogeneous, Ev Young modulus in the direction
transversely isotropic and linear elastic ground with non- normal to the plane of isotropy
isotropic far-field stress conditions are developed. The mvh Poisson’s ratio for the effect of
results obtained with the proposed analytical solution are stress in a plane normal to the
compared with those obtained with the numerical code plane of isotropy on the strain in
FLAC3D for some usual shapes of tunnel openings. the direction normal to it
mhv Poisson’s ratio for the effect of
Keywords Underground excavation  Transversely stress in the plane of isotropy on
anisotropic rock  Closed-form solutions  the strain in the direction normal
Arbitrary cross section to it
mh Poisson’s ratio in the plane of
List of Symbols isotropy
(x, y, z) Cartesian coordinates Gvh Shear modulus in a plane normal
ðq; hÞ Polar coordinates to the plane of isotropy
b Inclination of the isotropic plane Sij (i, j = 1, 2) Compliance matrix [Eq. (4)]
with respect to the horizontal axis U Airy stress function
r0 Far-field vertical stress c1 ; c2 Roots of the compatibility
K0 Horizontal/vertical initial stress condition [Eqs. (9), (12)]
ratio z Complex number, zk ¼ x þ ck y;
r0h ; r0v ; s0vh Normal and shear stresses at far- k ¼ 1; 2
field along axes of elastic Xk ðzk Þ; k ¼ 1; 2 Analytic functions used to
symmetry express the Airy stress function
   
rx ; ry ; sxy ; ex ; ey ; exy Stresses and strains in Cartesian U (Eq. 13)
coordinate system -ðfÞ Mapping function of complex
H. Tran Manh  D. Subrin variable f
Centre d’Études des Tunnels, Bron, France
1 Introduction
H. Tran Manh  J. Sulem (&)
Laboratoire Navier-CERMES, École des Ponts Paris Tech,
IFSTTAR, CNRS, Université Paris-Est, Marne-la-Vallée, France The determination of stresses and displacements around
e-mail: jean.sulem@enpc.fr underground excavations excavated in anisotropic formations

123
 H. Tran Manh et al.

Fig. 1 Tunnel with arbitrary

cross section, initial stress state
in a transversely isotropic rock

such as sedimentary and metamorphic foliated rock is central analytical solution is derived for arbitrary cross sections. For
for the design and the assessment of stability and safety. Plane some common shapes of openings, the analytical solution is
problems for anisotropic elastic bodies have been largely compared with numerical computations performed with
studied in the works of Green and Taylor (1939, 1945a, b), FLAC3D (ITASCA 2011).
Green and Zerma (1968) and by Lekhnitskii (1963). Hefny
and Lo (1999) have applied Green’s theory for unlined cir-
cular tunnels excavated in an elastic transversely isotropic 2 Problem Description
medium. Based on the Lekhnitskii formalism, Bobet (2011)
has developed a closed-form solution for lined circular tun- We consider a tunnel with arbitrary cross section excavated
nels. An approximate solution for the cavity expansion in in an infinite elastic rock mass with transverse isotropy. It
transversely isotropic rock for the displacements and stress is assumed that the tunnel axis is parallel to the z-axis and
adjacent to the cavity wall has also been presented by that axes x and z lie in the plane of isotropy. The initial
Kolymbas et al. (2012) to back analyze the material constants state of stress is assumed to be homogeneous and aniso-
of rock. A semi-analytical solution for a circular tunnel tropic and is expressed in the vertical plane as
excavated in a transversely isotropic formation with non-lin-  
r0 0
ear behavior is developed in a recent paper by Vu et al. r¼ : ð1Þ
0 K0 r0
(2013a). In these studies, the opening shape is assumed cir-
cular. In many geotechnical applications, underground The tunnel axis is parallel to the plane of isotropy which
openings in soils and rocks are excavated with more complex makes an angle b with the horizontal axis (Fig. 1). In the
geometries such as semi-circular or double-arch cross section, (x, y) coordinate system, the far-field stresses are given as
Exadaktylos and Stavropoulou (2002) and Exadaktylos et al. 8 r0
>
> r0v ¼ ðð1 þ K0 Þ þ ð1  K0 Þ cos 2bÞ
(2003) have proposed closed-form plane strain solutions for >
> 2
< r0
non-circular tunnels excavated in an isotropic linear elastic 0
r ¼ ðð1 þ K0 Þ  ð1  K0 Þ cos 2bÞ : ð2Þ
medium using the method of conformal mapping and Kolo- > h 2
>
>
>
sov–Muskhelishvili complex potentials. More recently, : s0 ¼ r0 ð1  K Þ sin 2b
vh 0
Zhang and Sun (2011) have presented an analytical solution 2
To account for the excavation process, we introduce the
for a deep tunnel with arbitrary cross section in a transversely
deconfinement rate k. The advancement of the tunnel face
isotropic rock mass. These authors have assumed that the
in due course of the excavation process can be described as
cross section of tunnel is parallel to the plane of isotropy and
a reduction of the stresses at the inner wall of the tunnel:
they found that, in that case, the compatibility equation of 8
transversely isotropy is the same as that of isotropy so that >
> kr0
>
> Dr0v ¼ kr0v ¼  ðð1 þ K0 Þ þ ð1  K0 Þ cos 2bÞ
their stress solutions are of the same form for stress boundary >
> 2
<
condition. In other words, the problem in this case is formally kr0
Dr0h ¼ kr0h ¼  ðð1 þ K0 Þ  ð1  K0 Þ cos 2bÞ :
similar to the isotropic case which has already been largely >
> 2
>
>
explored (e.g., Exadaktylos and Stavropoulou 2002). In this >
> kr
: Ds0vh ¼ ks0vh ¼  0 ð1  K0 Þ sin 2b
paper, we study a more complex situation where the tunnel 2
axis is assumed to be parallel to the plane of isotropy. An ð3Þ

123
A Closed-Form Solution for Tunnels

3 General Closed-Form Solution

The constitutive relationships in plane strain are given as
0 1 0 10 1
ex S11 S12 0 rx 3.1 General Formulation
@ ey A ¼ @ S21 S22 0 A@ ry A ð4Þ
exy 0 0 S33 sxy Two-dimensional problems in elasticity are commonly
solved using the complex variable method. In this method,
where S11, S21, S12, S22 and S33 are the compliance the displacements and stresses field are represented in
coefficients. They are related to the material parameters as terms of analytic functions of a complex variable
follows z ¼ x þ iy. In the case of transversely isotropic plane,
following Green and Taylor (1939, 1945a, b), two addi-
1  m2h 1  mvh mhv
S11 ¼ ; S22 ¼ ; S12 ¼ S21 tional complex variables z1 and z2 are introduced
Eh Ev
mvh ð1 þ mh Þ 1 zk ¼ ðz þ ck zÞ
¼ ; S13 ¼ S31 ¼ 0; S33 ¼ ð5Þ ð11Þ
Ev Gvh zk ¼ ðz þ ck zÞ
where Eh, Ev are the Young’s modulus in the plane of with
isotropy and in the direction normal to it, respectively; mh pffiffiffiffiffi
ak  1
is the Poisson’s ratio in the plane of isotropy, mhv and mvh ck ¼ pffiffiffiffiffi ; jck j\1: ð12Þ
ak þ 1
are the Poisson’s ratio for effect of stress in the plane of
isotropy on the strain in the direction normal to it and The general solution of Eq. (9) for the Airy stress
the Poisson’s ratio for effect of stress in a plane normal function can be expressed in terms of two analytic func-
to the plane of isotropy on the strain in the direction tions ðX1 ; X2 Þ and their conjugates
normal to it, respectively (Eh =mhv ¼ Ev =mvh ); Gvh is the X
2  
shear modulus in any plane normal to the plane of U¼ Xk ðzk Þ þ Xk ðzk Þ ð13Þ
isotropy. k¼1

Stresses are classically derived from the Airy stress The stress and displacement fields are expressed as
function U: Stresses
X2  
o2 U o2 U o2 U rx ¼  ðck  1Þ2 X00k ðzk Þ þ ðck  1Þ2 X00k ðzk Þ
rx ¼ 2
; ry ¼ 2 ; sxy ¼  : ð6Þ
oy ox oxoy k¼1
2 
X 
Using the constitutive Eq. (4), strain compatibility ry ¼ ðck þ 1Þ2 X00k ðzk Þ þ ðck þ 1Þ2 X00k ðz1 Þ ð14Þ
equation for two-dimensional problems k¼1
2  
1X   
o2 exy o2 ex o2 ey sxy ¼  c2k  1 X00k ðzk Þ  c2k  1 X00k ðzk Þ :
2 ¼ 2 þ 2 ð7Þ i k¼1
oxoy oy ox
Displacements
yields the following differential equation for the Airy stress
2 h i
function (Jaeger and Cook 1979) 1X  
u¼ ðdk þ qk ÞX0k ðzk Þ þ dk þ qk X0 k ðzk Þ
2 k¼1
o4 U o4 U o4 U ð15Þ
2 h i
S11 þ ð2S þ S Þ þ S ¼0 ð8Þ 1X  
oy2
12 33
ox2 oy2
22
ox2 v¼ ðdk  qk ÞX0k ðzk Þ  dk  qk X0 k ðzk Þ
2i k¼1
which can be written as
with
 2 2  2 2 
o o o o d1 ¼ ð1 þ c1 Þb2  ð1  c1 Þb1 d2 ¼ ð1 þ c2 Þb1  ð1  c2 Þb2
þ a1 2 þ a2 2 U ¼ 0 ð9Þ
ox2 oy ox2 oy q1 ¼ ð1 þ c1 Þb2 þ ð1  c1 Þb1 q2 ¼ ð1 þ c2 Þb1 þ ð1  c2 Þb2

with ð16Þ
and
S11 S33 þ 2S12
a1 a2 ¼ and a1 þ a2 ¼ : ð10Þ
S22 S22 b1 ¼ S12  S22 a1 ; b2 ¼ S12  S22 a2 : ð17Þ
In case of isotropy, a1 ¼ a2 ¼ 1, and Eq. (9) is simply It should be noted that in general, there are two possible
r ðr2 UÞ ¼ 0.
2 cases:

123
 H. Tran Manh et al.

hence,
ck1 ¼ 1 þ ck a1
ð22Þ
dk1 ¼ a1 þ ck

and for n  2
ckn ¼ ck an
ð23Þ
dkn ¼ an :

Note that the transformation between the (f1 ; f2 )-plane

Fig. 2 Conformal mapping of a region exterior to a tunnel onto the and the z-plane is not conformal.
exterior of a unit circle For practical applications, the potential functions
ðX1 ; X2 Þ are searched in the form of infinite power series.
(a) if c1 and c2 are real, all parameters d1 , d2 , q1 and q2
For the problem considered for which the medium extends
are real
to infinity, only the negative powers of the complex vari-
(b) if c1 and c2 are complex conjugates, d1 and d2 as well
able should be included to ensure finite stress at infinity. In
as q1 and q2 are complex conjugates.
the transformed plane, the first derivative of the potential
Boundary conditions functions can be assumed to be of the form
Boundary conditions are expressed in terms of the
resultant tractions acting (X; Y) on the boundary X
1
X0k ðzk Þ ¼ Akn ðfk Þn ; jfk j  1: ð24Þ
X2   n¼1
oU
P ¼ X þ iY ¼ 2i ¼ 2i ck X0k ðzk Þ þ X0k ðzk Þ : ð18Þ
oz k¼1 The coefficients Akn are evaluated from the boundary
conditions. The condition of no stress change at infinity is
3.2 Closed-Form Solution for a Deep Tunnel automatically satisfied from the choice of the potential
functions with only negative powers of fk . To calculate the
To solve plane problems with complex geometries, we use stresses field, the second derivative of the potential func-
the conformal mapping technique. The mapping function tions can be written as
transforms the region exterior to a tunnel of arbitrary shape
P1
into the exterior of a unit circle (Fig. 2). We can express X00k ðfk Þ nAkn ðfk Þðnþ1Þ
the mapping function - in the form of Laurent series X00k ðzk Þ ¼ 0 ¼ P1 n¼1 : ð25Þ
" #
-k ðfk Þ R n¼1 n ckn fn1
k  dkn fn1
k
X1
n
z ¼ -ðfÞ ¼ R f þ an f ; f ¼ qeih ð19Þ In the orthogonal curvilinear coordinate, stresses and
n¼1 displacements are expressed as
where the constant term R is a real number which refers to
rq þ rh ¼ rx þ ry
the size of cross section and the constant coefficients am are
complex numbers which refers to the shape of cross section f df dz  
rq  rh þ 2isqh ¼ rx  ry þ 2isxy
(Exadaktylos and Stavropoulou 2002). f dz df
We define two additional complex variables f1 and f2 as - ðfÞ 
0 
¼ e2ih 0 rx  ry þ 2isxy
X1   - ðfÞ
zk ¼ ðz þ ck zÞ ¼ -k ðfk Þ ¼ R ckn fnk þ dkn fn
k ;  1
n¼1
ð20Þ f df dz 2  
uq þ iuh ¼ ux þ iuy ð26Þ
for k ¼ 1; 2: f dz df
The f1 - and f2 -planes are chosen in such a way that the and on the circle q = constant, the resultant traction acting
circles jfk j ¼ 1 correspond to the circle jfj ¼ 1 and jfk j ! on the arc (0, h) is
1 when jfj ! 1. Substituting Eq. (19) into Eq. (20) for Z
  dz
the boundary (q ¼ 1), we have PðhÞ ¼ i rq þ isqh dh
" ! !# dh
X1 X1 X
1 Z

inh inh inh inh

kr0 f df dz 2ib dz
R e þ an e þ ck e þ an e ¼i ðK0  1Þe þ ð1 þ K0 Þ dh:
n¼1 n¼1 n¼1
2 f dz df dh
X
1   ð27Þ
n
¼R ckn fnk þ dkn fk ð21Þ
n¼1 On the tunnel wall f ¼ eih , q ¼ 1

123
A Closed-Form Solution for Tunnels

P ðnþ1Þ kr0    
f df dz 1 1 n¼1 nan f A11 ¼ R ð1  K0 Þ e2ib  a1 c2 e2ib þ ða1  c2 Þð1 þ K0 Þ
¼ e2ih P1 4ðc1  c2 Þ
f dz df 1  n¼1 nan fðnþ1Þ kr0    
P A21 ¼ R ð1  K0 Þ e2ib  a1 c1 e2ib þ ða1  c1 Þð1 þ K0 Þ
1 1 na eiðnþ1Þh 4ðc2  c1 Þ
¼ e2ih P1n¼1 n iðnþ1Þh ð28Þ
1  n¼1 nan e ð34Þ
and also and for n  2
" # kr0  
dz dz df X 1
A1n ¼ Ran ð1 þ K0 Þ  c2 ð1  K0 Þe2ib
¼ ¼ iR 1  nan fðnþ1Þ f 4ðc1  c2 Þ
dh df dh ð35Þ
" n¼1 # kr0  
X
1 A2n ¼ Ran ð1 þ K0 Þ  c1 ð1  K0 Þe2ib :
¼ iR 1  nan e iðnþ1Þh
eih : ð29Þ 4ð c 2  c 1 Þ
n¼1
Using the Eqs. (14) and (15), we can find the stress and
Substituting Eqs. (28) and (29) into Eq. (27), we obtain displacement field around the tunnel. The implementation
Z "" X1
# of these equations into computing codes (e.g., Matlab,
kr0 ih Maple, Mathematica, …) is straightforward and results can
PðhÞ ¼  R e  nan e inh
ðK0  1Þe2ib
2 n¼1
be obtain in a quick and accurate manner.
" # #
X
1
þ eih  nan einh ð1 þ K0 Þ dh
n¼1 4 Validation and Application of the Proposed Closed-
"" #
kr0 X
1 Form Solution
¼i R eih þ an einh ð1  K0 Þe2ib
2 n¼1
" # # In this section, we first check the proposed closed-form
X
1
solution by comparing with existing analytical solutions for
ih inh
þ e þ an e ð1 þ K 0 Þ : ð30Þ
elliptical openings (Lekhnitskii 1963; Jaeger and Cook
n¼1
1979) and circular openings (Hefny and Lo 1999). Then,
Using Eq. (18), we can write we apply our solution for semi-circular and rectangular
! openings and compare the results with those obtained
X
2 X
1 X
1
numerically with FLAC3D.
2i ck Akn einh þ Akn einh
k¼1 n¼1 n¼1
"" # 4.1 Elliptical and Circular Openings
kr0 X
1
ih
¼i R e þ an e inh
ð1  K0 Þe2ib
2 n¼1 We consider a tunnel with elliptical cross section
" # #
X
1
x2 y2
þ eih þ an einh ð1 þ K0 Þ : ð31Þ þ ¼1 ð36Þ
n¼1 a2 b2

By identification of the terms in einh and einh , we obtain with

a ¼ Rð1 þ mÞ; b ¼ Rð1  mÞ: ð37Þ
X
2
kr0  
ck Ak1 ¼ R ð1  K0 Þe2ib þ a1 ð1 þ K0 Þ The mapping function which transforms the elliptical
k¼1
4
ð32Þ section into a unit circle is the following
X
2
kr0    
Ak1 ¼ R a1 ð1  K0 Þe2ib þ ð1 þ K0 Þ z ¼ -ðfÞ ¼ R f þ mf1 ð38Þ
k¼1
4
hence, in this case a1 ¼ m and for n  2 an ¼ 0. We obtain
and for n  2
the mapping functions as
X
2
kr0  
ck Akn ¼ Ran ð1 þ K0 Þ zk ¼ ðz þ ck zÞ ¼ R ð1 þ ck mÞfk þ ðck þ mÞf1
k : ð39Þ
k¼1
4
ð33Þ The derivatives of the potential functions are given by
X
2
kr0
Akn ¼ Ran ð1  K0 Þe2ib : Ak1 Ak1
4 X0k ðzk Þ ¼ and X00k ðzk Þ ¼   
k¼1 fk R ð1 þ ck mÞf2k  ðck þ mÞ
The above equations are fulfilled with ð40Þ

123
 H. Tran Manh et al.

with
kr0    
A11 ¼ R ð1  K0 Þ e2ib  mc2 e2ib þ ðm  c2 Þð1 þ K0 Þ
4ðc1  c2 Þ
kr0    
A21 ¼ R ð1  K0 Þ e2ib  mc1 e2ib þ ða1  mÞð1 þ K0 Þ :
4ðc2  c1 Þ
ð41Þ
To compare the obtained solution with the solution of
Lekhnitskii (1963), we consider the case of a uniform
pressure q applied on the opening contour (K0 ¼ 1). From
Eq. (34), we get Fig. 3 Comparison between the predicted opening shape and the
q specified semi-circular shape
A11 ¼ Rðm  c2 Þ
2ðc1  c2 Þ where
q ð42Þ
A21 ¼ Rðm  c1 Þ: l2 ¼ a2 sin2 h þ b2 cos2 h: ð48Þ
2ð c 2  c 1 Þ
The solution for the hoop stress at the tunnel wall is This expression of hoop stress [Eq. (47)] is identical to

the Lekhnitskii’s solution [see Eq. (38.4) in Lekhnitskii
1 1  me2ih
rh ¼ Re H  2ih U ð43Þ (1963) and ‘‘Appendix’’]
2 e m The simplest case for circular openings is obtained by
with setting m ¼ 0. Let P0 ¼ r0 ð1þK
2
0Þ
be the initial mean stress
" #
X
2 and Q0 ¼ r0 ðK021Þ the initial deviatoric stress. Setting
H ¼ rx þ ry ¼ 4Re ck X00k ðzk Þ b ¼ 0, the constants of the stress functions, when the tunnel
k¼1
   
is fully excavated (k ¼ 1Þ, are given as
c1 c2 me2ih  1  e2ih  m
¼ 2qRe R
ðð1 þ c1 mÞe2ih  ðc1 þ mÞÞðð1 þ c2 mÞe2ih  ðc2 þ mÞÞ A11 ¼  ½ Q 0 þ c 2 P0 
ð44Þ 2ðc1  c2 Þ
ð49Þ
R
and A21 ¼ ½Q0 þ c1 P0 :
2ð c 2  c 1 Þ
2 h
X i
U ¼ rx  ry þ 2isxy ¼ 4 c2k X00k ðzk Þ þ X00 k ðzk Þ
k¼1
   
ð45Þ
ðc1 þ c2 Þ me2ih þ me2ih  m2  1 þ c1 c2 ðm  1Þ e2ih þ 1 þ e2ih ð1  m2 Þ
¼ 2q :
ðð1 þ c1 mÞe2ih  ðc1 þ mÞÞðð1 þ c2 mÞe2ih  ðc2 þ mÞÞ

To compare the obtained solution with Lekhnitskii’s The closed-form solution for the hoop stress
expression, we introduce the parameters ðl1 ; l2 Þ which are change at the inner wall of the circular tunnel is
expressed in terms of the parameters ðc1 ; c2 Þ [see Eq. (12)] as derived as
" 2
ck  1 1 1 þ c1 e2ih
lk ¼ for k ¼ 1; 2: ð46Þ Drh ¼ Re ðQ0 þ c2 P0 Þ
ck þ 1 ðc1  c2 Þ ð1  c1 e2ih Þ
By replacing m ¼ abaþb, the hoop stress at the boundary of  2 #!
the tunnel is rewritten as 1 þ c2 e2ih
 ðQ0 þ c1 P0 Þ Q0 cos 2h  P0
ð1  c2 e2ih Þ
q ieih
rh ¼ 2 Re 
l ða sin h  l1 b cos hÞða sin h  l2 b cos hÞ
 4e2ih
 ðl1 l2 a  iðl1 þ l2 ÞbÞa3 sin3 h þ iðl1 l2  2Þ  Re Q0
ð1  c1 e2ih Þð1  c2 e2ih Þ
 a2 b2 sin2 h cos h þ ið2l1 l2  1Þa2 b2 sin h cos2 h

 4c1 c2 e4ih
 þ 2þ P0 : ð50Þ
þ ðiðl1 þ l2 Þa  l1 l2 bÞb3 sin3 h ð47Þ ð1  c1 e2ih Þð1  c2 e2ih Þ

123
A Closed-Form Solution for Tunnels

Fig. 4 Semi-circular opening, a geometry and boundary conditions and b FLAC3D finite difference grid

123
 H. Tran Manh et al.

Fig. 5 Comparison between the hoop stress at the crown (a) and the
horizontal stress along the floor of the tunnel (b) computed with FLAC3D
[N] and with the analytical solution [A] Eh ¼ 620 MPa; Ev ¼ 340 MPa;
Gvh ¼ 200 MPa; mh ¼ 0:12; mhv ¼ 0:2; r0 ¼ 5 MPa; K0 ¼ 0:75

So that
rh ¼ P0  Q0 cos 2h þ Drh

4e2ih
¼  Re Q0
ð1  c1 e2ih Þð1  c2 e2ih Þ


4c1 c2 e4ih Fig. 6 Comparison between the displacement fields computed with
þ 2þ P0
ð1  c1 e2ih Þð1  c2 e2ih Þ FLAC3D [N] and with analytical solution [A] at the crown (a) and
along the floor (b) of the tunnel Eh ¼ 620 MPa; Ev ¼ 340 MPa;
4ðc1 þ c2 Þ  4ð1  c1 c2 Þ cos 2h Gvh ¼ 200 MPa; mh ¼ 0:12; mhv ¼ 0:2; r0 ¼ 5 MPa; K0 ¼ 0:75
¼   Q0
1 þ c21  2c1 cos 2h 1 þ c22  2c2 cos 2h
2 þ 2ðc1 þ c2 Þ2  2c21 c22  4ðc1 þ c2 Þ cos 2h
þ    P0
1 þ c21  2c1 cos 2h 1 þ c22  2c2 cos 2h The solutions derived for the radial displacements (uR )
ð51Þ and the tangential displacements (uh ) are

123
A Closed-Form Solution for Tunnels

Fig. 7 Rectangular opening: comparison between the specified

opening and the predicted opening shapes for different numbers of
terms in the conformal mapping function

R
uR ¼ ð½Q0 ðd1  d2 Þ þ P0 ðc2 d1  c1 d2 ÞP0  cos 2h
2ð c 1  c 2 Þ
þ Q0 ðq1  q2 Þ þ P0 ðc2 q1  c1 q2 ÞÞ
R
uh ¼  ½Q0 ðd1  d2 Þ þ P0 ðc1 d2  c2 d1 ÞP0  sin 2h:
2ð c 1  c 2 Þ
ð52Þ
The above expressions are exactly the same as those
presented by Hefny and Lo (1999).

4.2 Semi-Circular Opening

We consider a semi-circular opening with radius Rsc ¼ 5m.

The approximate mapping function which transforms the
semi-circular cross section into a unit circle is the
following:
 
z ¼ zðfÞ ¼ R f þ a1 f1 þ a2 f2 þ a3 f3 ð53Þ
with
R ¼ 3:8052; a1 ¼ 0:3040; a2 ¼ 0:1372i;
a3 ¼ 0:0390:
The comparison between the predicted and the specified
opening is shown in Fig. 3. More terms in the series
expansion can be introduced if excessive roundness is to be
avoided but as can be seen from this figure, the obtained
boundary correctly fits the specified tunnel boundary.
For the same geometry, numerical computations are
performed with FLAC3D. The geometry and boundary
conditions of numerical model are shown in Fig. 4a where
the far-field boundaries are placed at a distance of 10 radii
to approximate infinitely remote boundaries. The mesh
comprises a total of 23,200 quadrilateral elements covering
Fig. 8 Rectangular opening: comparison between the horizontal
stress (a) and displacement fields (b) computed with FLAC3D and
with analytical solution for different numbers of terms in the
conformal mapping function Eh ¼ 620 MPa; Ev ¼ 340 MPa;
Gvh ¼ 200 MPa; mh ¼ 0:12; mhv ¼ 0:2; r0 ¼ 5 MPa; K0 ¼ 1:0
a domain of 100 9 100 m. The discretization is very fine
near the opening where the typical element size is
0.25 9 0.25 m (Fig. 4b). The in situ stresses are initially
imposed everywhere in the domain. Plane-strain conditions
are enforced by including a thin slice of material in the
y-direction and imposing symmetry boundary conditions
on these two surfaces. The thickness of the domain is
selected as one-fifth of the radius.
For the example presented here, we use the ground
parameters evaluated by Vu et al. (2013a, b) for Saint-
Martin-La-Porte access gallery using convergence mea-
surements. Typical values for the obtained parameters are:
Eh = 620 MPa; Ev = 340 MPa; Gvh = 200 MPa;
mh = 0.12 and mhv = 0.2. The in situ vertical stress is

123
 H. Tran Manh et al.

Table 1 Comparison of the hoop stress and displacement at the crown and at the corner of the rectangular opening predicted by FLAC3D and
the analytical solution with different number of terms in the conformal mapping at hand
Solution Hoop stress (MPa) Horizontal Vertical displacement (mm)
displacement (mm)
At the crown At the corner At the corner At the crown At the corner
Reference computation 2.05 Relative 42.32 Relative 5.41 Relative 49.50 Relative 15.39 Relative
with FLAC3D error (%) error (%) error (%) error (%) error (%)

n=2 1.40 32.1 14.86 64.9 7.40 -37.0 50.01 -1.0 17.82 -15.8
n=3 1.85 9.9 19.31 54.4 6.68 -23.5 49.70 -0.4 17.97 -16.8
n=4 2.53 -23.3 23.57 44.3 6.49 -20.1 49.41 0.2 16.91 -9.9
n=5 2.20 -7.2 29.66 29.9 6.16 -13.9 49.72 -0.4 16.79 -9.1
n = 10 2.05 0.1 46.31 -9.4 5.94 -9.8 49.93 -0.9 16.17 -5.1

assumed to be 5 MPa. The following values of c1 and c2
are obtained, using the Eqs. (10) and (12), as
c1 ¼ 0:0683 þ 0:1215i; c2 ¼ 0:0683  0:1215i:
Using the Eq. (16), the values of d1 , d2 , q1 and q2 are
obtained as
d1 ¼ 0:0003 þ 0:0013i; d2 ¼ 0:0003  0:0013i
q1 ¼ 0:0052  0:0001i; q2 ¼ 0:0052 þ 0:0001i
The distribution of stresses and displacements at the
crown and along the floor of the tunnel section are calcu-
lated for the following different cases to consider the effect
of the orientation of the plan of isotropy. For all the fol-
lowing examples, we assume K0 ¼ 0:75.
Case 1: b ¼ 0
Case 2: b ¼ 45
Case 3: b ¼ 90
Case 4: b ¼ 135
The comparison between the numerical and analytical
results is shown in Figs. 5 and 6 for the case of a semi-
circular opening. We can observe that the analytical results
are in good agreement with the numerical results except for
the region close to the corner of cross section. These errors
occur due to the approximation of the mapping function. In
our case, we have developed the Laurent series with n = 3
terms. These errors can be reduced by increasing the
number of terms in the series. This point is discussed in the
following section with the example of a rectangular
opening.
4.3 Rectangular Opening
effect of the number of terms in the mapping function. For
that purpose, the rectangular opening is a good example.
We consider a rectangular opening with a width
b = 4 m and a height h = 3 m. Since the geometry con-
figuration is symmetric across both x-axis and y-axis, the
approximate mapping function which transforms the square
cross section into a unit circle is the following:
!
X n
2kþ1
z ¼ zðfÞ ¼ R f þ a2k1 f ð54Þ
k¼1
where a2k1 (k ¼ 1; 2; . . .; n) are real numbers. As can be
seen in Fig. 7, more terms in the conformal mapping series
representation give a better approximation and a very good
approximation is obtained for n = 10.
The displacement and stress fields have been computed
along the perimeter of the opening using the analytical
solution with different numbers of terms in the conformal
mapping. The ground parameters are the same as in the
case of semi-circular opening described in the previous
section.
Numerical computations performed with FLAC3D are
used as a reference for comparison with the analytical results.
The distribution of hoop stress and displacement at the
traction-free boundary predicted for the different cases are
shown in Fig. 8 and the relative errors at the crown and the
corner of section are shown in the Table 1. It is interesting to
note that the analytical solution gives a good prediction at the
crown of the tunnel even with a small number of terms but a
greater discrepancy occurs at the corner of the tunnel. It was
found that at least ten terms should be used for getting
accurate results at the corner of the section.

As can be seen in the case of semi-circular opening, the 5 Conclusion

predicted opening by a conformal mapping function with
three terms in the series expansion gives a certain amount An analytical solution for stresses and displacements
of rounding of the corner. In this section, we study the around an unlined tunnel with arbitrary cross section driven

123
A Closed-Form Solution for Tunnels

in a transversely isotropic rock mass has been developed. The stresses and displacements fields are obtained under
Such a solution is useful for a quick and accurate evalua- the following form
tion of the stress and displacement fields in linear elastic X
2  
media for a number of usual tunnel shapes. This solution is rx ¼ 2Re l2k U0k ðzk Þ
based on the theory of complex variable for 2D elastic k¼1
media and on the method of conformal mapping. In the X
2  
present paper, the tunnel axis is assumed to be parallel to ry ¼ 2Re U0k ðzk Þ ;
k¼1
the plane of isotropy.
X
2  
The solution has been verified by comparing the results sxy ¼  2Re lk U0k ðzk Þ ð57Þ
with existing closed-form solutions for both elliptical and k¼1
circular openings. The proposed solution has been applied X
2
to openings with different shapes such as semi-circular or u ¼ 2Re ½pk Uk ðzk Þ
rectangular sections for anisotropic far-field stress condi- k¼1

tions. For more complex shapes, the conformal mapping X

2

function has generally to be derived in the form of infinite v ¼ 2Re ½qk Uk ðzk Þ
k¼1
Laurent series. The number of terms used for an accept-
able approximation of the shape of the opening is dis- where for k ¼ 1; 2
cussed. It depends on the complexity of the geometry of
pk ¼ S11 l2k þ S12
the section. For sections with sharp angles such as semi-
S22 ð58Þ
circular or rectangular openings, excessive roundness can qk ¼ S12 lk þ :
be avoided by using more terms. For example, for getting lk
an error smaller than 10 % for the displacement and the To solve the elliptical hole problem, the following
stress fields at the corner of a rectangular section, at least transformation functions are used
ten terms must be used. However, even with a relatively
a  ilk b a þ ilk b 1
high number of terms, one can easily implement the zk ¼ fk þ ð59Þ
2 2 fk
governing equations for the stresses and displacements
into computing codes (e.g., Matlab, Maple, Mathematica, or
…) and results can be obtain in a quick and accurate pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
manner. zk þ z2k  a2  l2k b2
fk ¼ ð60Þ
a  ilk b
Acknowledgments The authors wish the thank ITASCA for sup-
porting this research through the Itasca Education Partnership
where a and b are the half-lengths of the major and minor
Program. axes of the ellipse.
The solution for the functions Uk ðk ¼ 1; 2Þ is obtained as
X1 
bm  l2 am m
Appendix: Lekhnitskii’s solution for elliptical hole U1 ðz1 Þ ¼ A1 ln f1 þ f s
m¼1
l1  l2 1
in an anisotropic elastic plate (Lekhnitskii 1963) ð61Þ
X1 
bm  l1 am m
U2 ðz2 Þ ¼ A2 ln f2  f2
In Lekhnitskii’s theory for a plane strain problems in m¼1
l 1  l2
anisotropic materials, the Airy stress function U is
expressed in terms of two analytical functions Fk , k ¼ 1; 2 where am , bm are known coefficients, complex in general,
of the complex variables zk ¼ ðx þ lk yÞ, k ¼ 1; 2 where lk which depend on the load distribution on the opening
and their conjugates are the four roots of the characteristic contour. Constants Ak depend on the principal vector of
equations of the related eigenvalue problem. When the external forces. In the usual problem of tunnel excavation,
material of the plate has two orthogonal directions of the constants Ak ¼ 0.
symmetry in the (x, y) plane and these are taken to be Lekhnitskii also presented three special loading cases:
parallel to the directions x and y, the characteristic equation 1. Uniform pressure q applied on the opening contour
becomes 8
< a ¼  qa ; b ¼ i qb
1 1
S11 l4 þ ð2S12 þ S33 Þl2 þ S22 ¼ 0: ð55Þ 2 2 ð62Þ
: 
am ¼ bm ¼ 0 for m  2
By introducing the following definition (k ¼ 1; 2)
dFk 2. Tangential forces t uniformly distributed along the
Uk ðzk Þ ¼ : ð56Þ opening contour
dzk

123
 H. Tran Manh et al.

8 Green AE, Taylor GI (1939) Stress systems in aeolotropic plates I.

< a ¼ tbi ; b ¼  ta
1 1 Proc R Soc Ser A Math Phys Sci 173(953):162–172
2 2 ð63Þ Green AE, Taylor GI (1945a) Stress systems in aeolotropic plates III.
:
am ¼bm ¼ 0 for m  2 Proc. R Soc Ser A Math Phys Sci 184(997):181–195
Green AE, Taylor GI (1945b) Stress systems in aeolotropic plates VI.
3. Tension p at infinity oriented at an angle / with the Proc R Soc Ser A Math Phys Sci 184(998):289–300
major axis and with no external forces acting at the Green AE, Zerna W (1968) Theoretical elasticity. Dover Publications,
opening contour Inc, New York
8 Hefny AM, Lo KY (1999) Analytical solutions for stresses and
> p sin / displacements around tunnels driven in cross-anisotropic rocks.
>
> a1 ¼  ða sin /  ib cos /Þ;
>
< 2 Int J Numer Anal Methods Geomech 23(2):161–177
p cos / ITASCA (2011) Fast Lagrangian analysis of continua (FLAC3D).
ð64Þ
>
> b1 ¼ ða sin /  ib cos /Þ; Itasca Consulting Group Inc, Minnesota
>
> 2 Jaeger JC, Cook NGW (1979) Fundamentals of rock mechanics.
:
am ¼bm ¼ 0 for m  2 Chapman and Hall, London
Kolymbas D, Wagner P, Blioumi A (2012) Cavity expansion in cross-
anisotropic rock. Int J Numer Anal Methods Geomech
36(2):128–139
Lekhnitskii SG (1963) Theory of elasticity of an anisotropic elastic
body. Holden-Day Inc, San Francisco
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