TUTORIAL MANUAL

5 TUNNEL HEADING STABILITY (LESSON 3)

This lesson illustrates the use of the PLAXIS 3D Tunnel program for the analysis of a shield
tunnel heading stability calculation. Many of the program features that were used in Lesson
1 and 2 will be utilised here again. In addition, some new features will be used, such as
interfaces, z-loads, the generation of water pressures and the calculation of a safety factor.
The new features will be described in full detail, whereas the features that were treated in
previous lessons will be described in less detail. Therefore it is suggested that the previous
lessons should be completed before attempting this exercise.
This example concerns the stability of the tunnel heading of a bored tunnel. While
excavating the tunnel, the tunnel heading needs support in the form of liquid, air, ground
pressure or mechanical pressure. This pressure is bounded between a minimum and
maximum depending on the soil properties, the depth of the tunnel and the groundwater
pressure at the face of the tunnel heading. The minimum face pressure is determined mainly
by the need to compensate for the groundwater pressure. A too low pressure can lead to
inward collapse of the tunnel heading (active failure); a too high pressure can result in a
blow out of the heading (passive failure). At the same time, large deformations may occur at
the ground surface.

In this lesson we will search for the minimum face pressure that is required to keep the
tunnel heading stable by lowering the original face pressure until collapse occurs. We will
also determine a global safety factor for the situation with the original face pressure.

5.1 GEOMETRY
The tunnel excavation is carried out by a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) which is 8.6 m
long and 8.5 m in diameter. The axis of the tunnel lies 7.0 m below mean see level (MSL),
which is 9.0 m below the ground surface. The present groundwater head corresponds to the
MSL. In the model, only one symmetric half is included. The model is 20.0 m wide, it
extends 25.0 m in the z-direction and it is 20.0 m deep. With these dimensions, the model is
sufficiently large to allow for any possible collapse mechanism to develop and to avoid any
influence from the model boundaries.

The subsoil consists of three layers. The soft upper sand layer is 2.0 m deep and extends
from the ground surface to MSL. Below the upper sand layer there is a clay layer of 12.0 m
thickness and this layer is underlain by a stiff sand layer that extends to a large depth. Only
6.0 m of the stiff sand layer is included in the model. Hence, the bottom of the model is 18.0
m below MSL.

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25 m

20 m

2.0 m Upper sand

9.0 m

Clay
12.0 m
8.5 m
8.6 m
6.0 m Stiff sand

Figure 5.1 Geometry model of the situation of a tunnel excavation

The tunnel excavation process is simulated in one excavation stage. The interaction between
the TBM and the soil is modelled by means of an interface. The interface allows for the
specification of a reduced friction compared to the friction in the soil. The tunnel face
pressure is modelled by means of a z-load, which is applied in the excavation stage.
For background information on these new procedures, see the Reference Manual.

To create the geometry model, follow these steps:

General settings
•= Start the Input program and select New project from the Create / Open project
dialog box.
•= In the Project tab sheet of the General settings window, enter an appropriate title
and make sure that Declination is set to 0° in the Model orientation box.
•= In the Dimensions tab sheet, keep the default units (Length = m; Force = kN; Time
= day) and enter for the horizontal dimensions (Left, Right) 0.0 and 20.0
respectively and for the vertical dimensions (Bottom, Top) -18.0 and +2.0. Keep
the default values for the grid spacing (Spacing=1m; Number of intervals = 1).
•= Click on the <OK> button after which the draw area appears.
Geometry contour, layers and structures
•= The geometry contour. Select the Geometry line button from the toolbar (this
should, in fact, already be selected for a new project). Move the cursor to the
position (0.0; -18.0) and click the left mouse button. Move 20 m to the right (20.0;
-18.0) and click again. Move 20 m up (20.0; 2.0) and click again. Move 20 m to
the left (0.0; 2.0) and click again. Finally, move back to the first point (0.0; -18.0)
and click again. A cluster is now automatically generated. Click the right mouse
button to stop drawing.
•= The separation between the three layers. The Geometry line button is still selected.
Move the cursor to position (0.0; 0.0). Click on the existing vertical line. Move 20
m to the right (20.0; 0.0) and click on the other existing vertical line. Move down
to (20.0; -12.0) and click again. Mover 20 m to the left (0.0; -12.0) and click
again. The first single cluster is now divided into three separate clusters,
corresponding to the three layers.

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•= The shield tunnel. Click on the Tunnel designer button and the Tunnel designer
will pop up. Select the Left half tunnel button to create the left half of the tunnel.
•= Accept the default setting for the tunnel type: Bored tunnel. Keep the Thickness
equal to zero.
•= A bored tunnel is circular by definition, therefore only one radius can be entered.
This is done in Section 1. Enter 4.25 m for the Radius parameter. Keep the default
value for the Angle parameter (60°). Proceed to Section 2. The Radius is
automatically updated to 4.25 m. The Angle must remain at 60°. Verify that
Section 3 is similar.
•= Make sure a shell (representing the TBM) and interface are present at the tunnel
contour.
•= Close the tunnel designer by pressing <Ok>
•= Move the cursor, which appears as a tunnel, to (20.0, -9.0) and click once to
introduce the tunnel in the cross section model.

Hints: Interfaces are indicated as dotted lines along a geometry line. To identify
interfaces at either side of a geometry line, a positive sign (⊕) or negative sign
(θ) is added.
> The selection of an interface is done by selecting the corresponding geometry
line and subsequently selecting the corresponding interface (positive or negative)
from the Select dialog box.

Figure 5.2 Geometry model in the Input window

Boundary Conditions
To create the boundary conditions, click on the Standard fixities button on the
toolbar. As a result, the program will generate full fixities at the bottom, vertical
rollers at the vertical sides and rotation fixities at the ends of the tunnel. The
geometry model is shown in Fig. 5.2.

Material properties

After the input of boundary conditions, the material properties of the soil clusters and other
geometry objects are entered in data sets. Interface properties are included in the data sets
for soil (Data sets for Soil & interfaces). Three data sets need to be created; one for the

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upper sand layer, one for the clay layer and one for the stiff sand layer. To create the
material data sets, follow these steps:

•= Click on the Material sets button on the toolbar. Select Soil & interfaces as the Set
type. Click on the <New> button to create a new data set.
•= For the upper sand layer, enter “Upper sand” for the Identification and select
Mohr-Coulomb as the Material model. The material type is set to Drained.
•= Enter the properties of the upper sand layer, as listed Table 5.1, in the
corresponding edit boxes of the General and Parameters tab sheet.
•= No interface properties need to be set because the interface is not in this layer.
Click on the <OK> button to close the data set.
•= Click on <New> to create a new dataset.
•= For the clay layer, enter “Clay” for the Identification and select Mohr-Coulomb as
the Material model. The material type should be set to Drained since this
represents the most critical situation.
•= Enter the properties of the clay layer, as listed Table 5.1, in the corresponding edit
boxes of the General and Parameters tab sheet. For the moment, the Interface tab
sheet may be skipped (see further). Press the <OK> button to close the data set.
•= Create another data set for the stiff sand layer, enter “Stiff sand” for the
Identification and select Mohr-Coulomb as the Material model. The material type
should be set to Drained. Enter the properties of the stiff sand layer, as listed
Table 5.1, in the corresponding edit boxes of the General and Parameters tab
sheet. Skip the Interfaces tab sheet and close the data set.

Table 5.1. Material properties of the sand and clay layers and the interfaces
Parameter Name Upper Clay Stiff Unit
sand sand

Material model Model Mohr- Mohr- Mohr- -

Coulomb Coulomb Coulomb
Type of material behaviour Type Drained Drained Drained -
Soil weight above phr. level γunsat 17.0 16.0 17.0 kN/m3
Soil weight below phr. level γsat 20.0 18.0 20.0 kN/m3
Young's modulus (constant) Eref 1.3⋅104 1.0⋅104 7.5⋅104 kN/m2
Poisson's ratio ν 0.3 0.35 0.3 -
Cohesion (constant) cref 1.0 5.0 1.0 kN/m2
Friction angle ϕ 31.0 25.0 31.0 °
Dilatancy angle ψ 0.0 0.0 0.0 °
Interface strength reduction Rinter 1.0 1.0 1.0 -
(Rigid) (Rigid) (Rigid)

•= Drag the “Upper sand” data set to the upper cluster of the geometry and drop it
there. Assign the “Clay” data set to the two middle clusters (including the part of
the clay layer inside the tunnel) and assign the “Stiff sand” data set to the two
lower clusters. Interfaces are automatically assigned the data set of the
corresponding cluster.

To model the interaction between the soil and the tunnel lining an interface (shown as a
dotted line) was created around the tunnel lining. The interface is modelled in the mesh by
interface elements (see page 3.3.4 of the Reference Manual).

The interface properties are defined by the parameter Rinter that can be set in the Interfaces
tab sheet of a soil material set. When the Interfaces tab sheet is skipped, the Rinter parameter

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will have a default value of 1.0 (Rigid). The Rinter parameter relates the strength of the
interfaces to the strength of the soil, according to the equations:

tanϕinterface = Rinter tanϕsoil and cinter = Rinter csoil

With the default value Rinter = 1.0 (rigid), cinter = csoil and ϕinter = ϕsoil.
In general, strength properties in the interaction zone between soil and structures are lower
than the adjacent soil. This reduction can be specified using the Rinter parameter. Hence,
using Rinter < 1.0 gives a reduced interface friction and adhesion compared to the friction
angle and the cohesion in the adjacent soil.

The 2D cross section will be extended in z-direction to create the 3D model. As the
interface is present in the 2D cross section, it will also be present in all slices of the 3D
model. However, a reduced interface friction and adhesion is only required in the slices
where the tunnel is present, whereas in the slices ahead of the tunnel the Rinter parameter
should be 1.0 (Rigid), as available in the existing data sets.

Now, a copy of the material data sets for clay and stiff sand will be made with modified
Rinter values. These modified data sets are assigned to the slices in which the tunnel is
excavated. The interfaces ahead of the tunnel will keep the existing data sets with Rinter =
1.0 (i.e. no interface strength reduction). The assignment of the material sets will be done in
Calculations using the Staged construction option. However, to do this, the data sets first
need to be created during the input.

A modified copy of the material sets for clay and stiff sand may be created by the following
operations:

•= Select the “Clay” material set and press the <Copy> button to create a copy of this
data set. Enter “Clay (R<1)” as identification. Do not change the existing values in
the General and the Parameters tab sheets.
•= Click on the Interfaces tab. In the Strength box, select the Manual radio button.
Enter a value of 0.8 for the Rinter parameter. Close the data set.
•= Select the “Stiff sand” material set and press the <Copy> button to create a copy
of this data set. Enter “Stiff sand (R<1)” as identification.
•= Click on the Interfaces tab. In the Strength box, select the Manual radio button.
Enter a value of 0.9 for the Rinter parameter. Close the data set.
•= Do NOT assign the new data sets to clusters. This will be done in the calculations.

In addition to the material data sets for soil and interfaces, a data set of the plate type is
created for the TBM.

•= Set the Set type parameter in the Material sets window to Plates and click on the
<New> button. Enter “TBM” as an Identification of the data set and enter the
properties as given in Table 5.2. Click on the <OK> button to close the data set.
•= Drag the “TBM” data set to the tunnel shell in the geometry and drop it as soon as
the cursor indicates that dropping is possible. For a bored tunnel, the tunnel shell
is considered to be one continuous and homogeneous object in the cross-section
model.
•= Close the material sets window by pressing the <OK> button.

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Table 5.2. Material properties of the TBM

Parameter Name Value Unit

Type of behaviour Material type Elastic

Normal stiffness EA 8.20⋅106 KN/m
Flexural rigidity EI 8.38⋅104 kNm2/m
Equivalent thickness d 0.35 m
Weight w 38.15 kN/m/m
Poisson's ratio ν 0.00 -

2D Mesh Generation
In this lesson the standard very coarse mesh is used. To generate the proposed mesh, follow
these steps:

•= Click on the Generate mesh button in the toolbar. A few seconds later, a very
coarse mesh is presented in the Output window. The 3D Tunnel program
automatically refines the mesh at the tunnel points. Although the interface has a
zero thickness, it is given an arbitrary thickness in the plot to visualise the
connectivities between the various elements. Click on the <Update> button to
return to the geometry input.
•=

Figure 5.3 2D finite element mesh of the shield tunnel project

3D Mesh Generation

Only the TBM (which is 8.6 m long) and 16.4 m ahead of the TBM are modelled.
Hence, the 3D model extends 25.0 m in the z-direction. Three planes are required to
model the situation: a front plane at 0.0 m, an intermediate plane at –8.6 m to represent
the face of the TBM and a rear plane at –25.0 m.

In the z-direction, the largest gradient of displacement will occur at the face of the TBM,
therefore a mesh refinement is applied at the middle plane representing the face of the
TBM.

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To generate the 3D mesh, follow these steps:

•= Click on the Generate 3D mesh button in the toolbar or select the Generate 3D
mesh option from the Mesh menu.
•= Create three z-planes with coordinates 0.0 m, -8.6 m and -25.0 m respectively.
•= To refine the mesh in z-direction at plane A (the front of the TBM), select plane A and
click on the corresponding red line in the top view. A window will pop up in which a
Local element size factor of 0.5 should be entered. Press <OK> to accept this value .
•= Click on the <Generate> button to start the 3D mesh extension procedure. The 3D
mesh is displayed in the Output window. The local refinement is clearly visible.
•= Click on the <Update> button to return to the geometry input mode.

Figure 5.4 3D finite element mesh of the shield tunnel project

Initial conditions
The initial conditions of the current project require the generation of water pressures and
the generation of initial stresses. The generation of water pressures (i.e. pore pressures and
water pressures on external boundaries) is based on the input of phreatic levels.
The simplest way is to define a general phreatic level, under which the water pressure
distribution is hydrostatic, based on the input of a unit water weight. The general phreatic
level is used for the generation of external water pressures and this line is automatically
assigned to all clusters for the generation of pore pressures. As an alternative to this
procedure based on a general phreatic level, individual clusters may have a separate
phreatic level or an interpolated pore pressure distribution. However, in this example only a
general phreatic level is defined at MSL.

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To generate the appropriate initial conditions, follow these steps:

•= Click on the Initial conditions button on the toolbar.

Hint: When a project is input for the first time, the water weight is presented
directly on entering the Water conditions mode. On re-entering an existing
project the input of the water weight can be accessed by selecting the Water
weight option from the Geometry menu in the Water conditions mode.

•= Click <OK> to accept the default value of the unit weight of water, which is 10
kN/m3. The Water conditions mode then becomes active, in which the Phreatic
level button is already selected. By default, a General phreatic level is generated
at the bottom of the geometry.
•= Move the cursor to position (0.0; 0.0) and click the left mouse button. Move 20 m
to the right (20.0; 0.0) and click again. Click the right mouse button to finish
drawing. The plot now indicates a new General phreatic level at MSL, i.e. 2.0 m
below the ground surface.

Hint: An existing phreatic level may be modified by using the Selection button from
the toolbar and moving the existing points, or by just drawing a new phreatic
level at a new position. On deleting the general phreatic level (by selecting it
and pressing the <Del> key on the keyboard), the default general phreatic
level will be created again at the bottom of the geometry. The graphical input
or modification of phreatic levels does not affect the existing geometry.

•= Click on the Generate water pressures button (shown by the blue crosses) on the
toolbar. The water pressures will then be generated and displayed in the Output
window. Click on the <Update> button to return to the Groundwater conditions
mode.
•= Proceed to the Geometry configuration mode by clicking on the 'switch' in the
toolbar.
•= Generate the initial stresses by means of the K0-procedure using the proposed
values of K0.
•= After the generation of initial stresses, click on the <Calculate> button and make
sure that the project is saved under an appropriate name.

5.2 CALCULATIONS
In practice, the construction of a tunnel is a process that consists of several phases. In this
case, we concentrate on the tunnel heading stability and consider that the TBM has already
advanced its own length (8.6 m) into the soil. Therefore, the first phase will consist of the
excavation of the soil to allow the installation of the TBM, the application of the TBM
itself, the lowering of the water level in the TBM, the application of the tunnel face pressure
and the application of contraction to simulate the fact that the TBM is conical towards its
tail. Also, the adapted material sets (with reduced interface friction and adhesion) are
assigned to the first slice in which the tunnel is excavated. To define this first calculation
phase, follow these steps:

•= Accept all defaults in the General and Parameters tab sheet and press <Define> in
the Loading input box.

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•= In the Staged construction window, click on the tunnel shell and a selection
window will appear in which the option plate should be selected. Now, the TBM
should be active in <Slice 1>.
•= To excavate the tunnel, click once on the two clusters inside the TBM to
deactivate them.
•= To assign the modified material sets (with reduced interface friction and adhesion)
to the corresponding soil clusters in <Slice 1>, click on the Material sets button,
select 'Clay (R<1)' and drag the material set to the middle layer. Select 'Stiff sand
(R<1)' and drag the material set to the bottom layer.
•= The tunnel face pressure needs to be applied to the face of the TBM, therefore
select the Plane A tab and double click on one of the clusters inside the tunnel. A
Z-Load on cluster window will appear (see Figure 5.6).
•= The tunnel face pressure is maintained by a fluid (bentonite) with a unit weight of
14.0 kN/m3. The tunnel face pressure is 90.0 kN/m2 in the negative z-direction at
the top of the tunnel (-4.75 m) and 209.0 kN/m2 at the bottom (-13.25 m). The
pressure gradient is 14.0 kN/m2/m.
•= Enter a yref of -4.75 m (corresponding to the top of the tunnel), a pref of –90.0
kN/m2 and a pinc of –14.0 kN/m2/m. Make sure that the face pressure belongs to
Load System A.
•= Do the same for the other cluster inside the tunnel.

Figure 5.5 The Z-Load on cluster window to define the face pressure.

•= Click on the tab sheet of the Front plane. Double click on the tunnel reference
point, i.e. the centre of the tunnel. The Tunnel contraction window pops up.
•= For each plane, a value may be entered for the Contraction parameter, which
involves a shortening of the tunnel shell and thus a reduction of the tunnel radius
during the calculation. The option is only available for Bored tunnels with shells
and can be used to simulate the soil volume loss around the tunnel due to
overcutting, conicity of the TBM, or any other cause. The value of contraction
defines the cross section area reduction as a percentage of the whole tunnel cross
section area. In this case the Front plane (i.e. the tail of the TBM) should be given
a contraction of 0.5% to simulate the conicity of the TBM.
•= While the Front plane is highlighted, enter a value of 0.5 for the contraction
parameter and click the <OK> button to close the tunnel contraction window.

•= Proceed to the Water conditions mode by clicking on the 'switch' in the toolbar. In
the water pressures mode, a Global pore pressure distribution (which is valid for
the whole geometry) or a Local pore pressure distribution (which is valid for one
slice only) can be applied.
•= To obtain a dry tunnel, double click on one of the two clusters inside the tunnel (in
slice 1). The Cluster pore pressure distribution window then appears (see Figure

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5.7). Choose User defined pore pressure distribution in the local pore pressure
distribution box and subsequently select Cluster is dry in this slice. Close the
window. Now, only in Slice 1 a single cluster is dry.
•= Repeat this procedure for the other tunnel cluster in Slice 1.
•= Click on the Generate water pressures button (shown by the blue crosses) on the
toolbar. Water pressures will be generated according to the new setting.
•= In the Output window the clusters inside the tunnel are shown to be excavated and
dry. Click on the <Update> button to return to the water conditions mode.

Figure 5.6 The Cluster pore pressure distribution window.

Click on the <Update> button to finish the definition of the construction phase. As a result,
the Staged construction window is closed and the Calculations window reappears. The
calculation phase has now been defined and saved.

The minimum required tunnel face pressure can be found by reducing the tunnel face
pressure until the tunnel heading collapses. This calculation phase is rather simple to define:

•= Click on the <Next> button to create the second phase.

•= In the General tab sheet, accept all defaults (Calculation type = Plastic, Load adv.
ultimate level; Start from phase = 1 - <phase 1> )
•= In the Parameters tab sheet, keep the default value for the Additional steps
parameters (250) and select the Reset displacements to zero option. In the Loading
input box, select Total multipliers.
•= Click on the <Define> button or on the Multipliers tab. In the Multipliers tab sheet
enter 0 for ΣMloadA. All loads defined as load system A (in this case only the Z-
Load representing the tunnel face pressure), will gradually be reduced to 0.

The calculation definition is now complete. Before starting the calculation it is suggested to
select nodes or stress points for a later generation of load-displacement curves or stress and
strain diagrams. To do this, follow the steps given below.

•= Click on the Set points for curves button on the toolbar.

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•= Click on Plane A and select the following nodes; the bottom of the tunnel, the
centre of the tunnel, the top of the tunnel and the ground surface right above the
tunnel. Click on the <Update> button.
•= In the Calculations window, click on the <Calculate> button.

The whole calculation will take about a quarter of an hour. The first calculation phase
should successfully finish, which is indicated by the green tick mark in the list. The second
calculation phase should not successfully finish. The following Log info can be read in the
General tab sheet:

Prescribed ultimate state not reached!

Soil body collapses.
Inspect output and load-displacement curve.

Click on the Multipliers tab and select the Reached values radio button. The Σ−MloadA
parameter in the Total multipliers box has reached a value of 0.62, so the minimum tunnel
face pressure required to prevent failure is 0.62 x 90.0 = 55.8 kN/m2 at the top and 0.62 x
209.0 = 129.6 kN/m2 at the bottom of the tunnel. This gives an idea about the safety of the
tunnel heading against active failure.

5.3 SAFETY ANALYSIS

In the design of a tunnel it is important to consider not only the final stability, but also the
stability during construction. The stability against failure can be defined by means of a
safety factor. In structural engineering, a safety factor is usually defined as the ratio of the
collapse load to the working load. For soil structures, however, this definition is not always
useful. As an alternative to the above calculation, a safety factor can be defined as:

S available
Safety factor =
S needed for equilibrium

Where S represents the shear strength. The ratio of the available strength to the computed
minimum strength required for equilibrium is the safety factor that is conventionally used in
soil mechanics. By introducing the standard Coulomb condition, the safety factor is
obtained as:

c + σ n tan ϕ
Safety factor =
c r + σ n tan ϕ r

Where c and ϕ are the input strength parameters and σn is the actual normal stress
component. The parameters cr and ϕr are reduced strength parameters that are just large
enough to maintain equilibrium. The principle described above is the basis of the method of
Phi-c reduction that can be used in PLAXIS to calculate a global safety factor. In this
approach the cohesion and the tangent of the friction angle are reduced in the same
proportion:

c tan ϕ
= = ΣMsf
c r tan ϕ r

The reduction of strength parameters is controlled by the total multiplier ΣMsf. This
parameter is increased in a step-by-step procedure until failure occurs. The safety factor is

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then defined as the value of ΣMsf at failure, provided that at failure a more or less constant
value is obtained for a number of successive calculation steps.

The Phi-c-reduction calculation option is only available for calculations of the Load
advancement number of steps type.

To calculate the global safety factor for the situation of the original face pressure, follow
these steps:

•= In the Calculations window, select the last calculation phase and press the <Next>
button.
•= In the General tab sheet, select Load adv. number of steps in the Calculation type
box.
•= The current calculation phase should not continue from the previous phase, but it
should start from the results of the first phase, i.e. the situation with the original
face pressure. Therefore, change the Start from phase parameter to the first phase
(Phase 1) in the Phase box.
•= In the Parameters tab sheet, keep the Additional steps at 30 (i.e. the default for a
Load adv. number of steps calculation) and select the Reset displacements to zero
option. Accept the selection of Phi-c reduction in the Loading input box and click
on the <Define> button.
•= In the Multipliers tab sheet, the first increment of the multiplier for strength
reduction (Msf ) is preset to 0.1. Accept this value and press the <Calculate>
button.

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5.4 VIEWING OUTPUT RESULTS

After the calculations, the results can be viewed by selecting the phase of interest and
clicking the <Output> button. Figure 5.7 shows the total displacement at the end of
phase 1. From this figure it can be seen that the original face pressure is sufficiently high
to keep the tunnel face stable. The displacements at the tunnel face are very small. The
largest deformations occur above the tail of the TBM. This is due to the applied
contraction.

Figure 5.7 Deformed mesh at the end of phase 1.

To view the realised value of contraction, follow these steps:

•= Select the Front plane and double click the TBM. From the dialog box, select the
Plate. As a result, a 3D plot appears representing the full tunnel, with an indication
of the active and inactive parts. The deformations are shown as a deformations
plane. A different presentation may be chosen from the presentation combobox.
•= Select again the Front plane. The plot title shows the total and incremental values
of the realised contraction. The Total realised contraction corresponds to the input
value of 0.5%.

In addition to the results of the first phase, it is also interesting to compare the
deformations as obtained for the second and the third phase. Both the second and the
third phase represent a collapse situation. The second phase (face pressure reduction)
shows the soil locally moving inwards (Fig. 5.8), whereas the third phase (phi-c
reduction) shows a chimney-like failure mechanism reaching to the ground level (Fig.
5.9).

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Figure 5.8 Displacement increments at the end of Phase 2 (face pressure reduction).

Figure 5.9 Displacement increments at the end of Phase 3 (Phi-c reduction).

The Curves program enables the generation of curves in which the development of
multipliers is plotted against the calculation step number or the deformation of a certain
point. It is interesting to view the development of the ΣMloadA multiplier (Fig. 5.10)
and the development of the ΣMsf multiplier (Fig. 5.11).

To generate these curves, the following steps need to be taken:

•= Start the Curves program, create a new chart and select Lesson 3 from the file
requester.
•= For the x-axis, select the total displacements of the point corresponding to the
centre of the tunnel. For the y-axis, select the multiplier ΣMloadA.
•= Create a new chart. For the x-axis, select the total displacements of the point
corresponding to the centre of the tunnel. For the y-axis, select the multiplier
ΣMsf.

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Figure 5.10 shows that, in the second phase, ΣMloadA reaches a value of 0.62, at which
large inward movements of the tunnel face occur. Figure 5.12 shows that, in the third
phase, ΣMsf reaches a value of 5.25, at which large inward movements of the tunnel
face occur.

Note that the value of ΣMsf may only be regarded as a global safety factor if a more or
less constant value (i.e. a horizontal line) is obtained while displacements are rapidly
increasing. This is indeed the case in the third calculation phase (see Fig. 5.11).
However, in this type of application the procedure of phi-c reduction does not give a
realistic safety factor. This is because the problem is very much dominated by the tunnel
face pressure, which is not reduced in the phi-c reduction procedure. The method of phi-
c reduction is much more applicable for embankment or slope stability problems, and
does give a realistic safety factor in such cases.
Sum-MloadA
1

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
|U| [m]

Figure 5.10 Development of ΣMloadA as a function of the tunnel face displacement

Sum-Msf
6

1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
|U| [m]
Figure 5.11 Development of ΣMsf as a function of the tunnel face displacement

4-15