Evaluation of tunneling-induced ground settlement in soft soil: numerical analysis and field investigation

Abstract

The construction of a metro tunnel in soft soil induces ground settlements above the tunnel. The settlement performance is a serious consideration for researchers, as excessive tunnel settlement would affect the safety of the metro operation. The influence of anisotropy on the settlements was firstly theoretically analyzed. Then an anisotropic creep model was adopted to simulate the ground settlement. The measured results of Shanghai Metro Line 2 have been used to compare with the simulated results so as to verify the theoretical analysis and simulated results. The influences of anisotropy on the settlements in the different stages have been analyzed.