Study on the Generalized Displacement Boundary and Its Analytical Prediction for Ground Movements Induced by Shield Tunneling

The process of shield tunnel excavation would inevitably cause surrounding ground movement, and excessive displacement in the soil could lead to large deformation and even collapse of the tunnel. The methods estimating convergence deformation around tunnel opening is summarized. Then, a universal pattern of displacement boundary condition around the tunnel cavity is originally introduced, which is solved as the combination of three fundamental deformation modes, namely, uniform convergence, vertical translation, and ovalization. The expression for the above-mentioned displacement boundary condition is derived, by imposing which the analytical solution for ground movements, based on the stress function method, is proposed. The reliability and applicability of this proposed solution are verified by comparing the observed data in terms of surface settlement, underground settlement, and horizontal displacement. Further parametric analyses indicate the following: (1) the maximum settlement increases linearly with the gap parameter and the tunnel radius, while it is negatively related to the tunnel depth; (2) the trough width parameter is independent of the gap parameter and the radius, while it is proportional to the tunnel depth. This study provides a new simple and reliable method for predicting ground movements induced by shield tunneling.