Abstract

A tunnel behavior predicted in the investigation and design stage is often different from its actual behavior due to mainly the complexity of ground conditions. In a tunnel construction, therefore, it is necessary to ensure the stability of the tunnel by predicting the behaviors of the ground and the supports through observations and measurements, and modifying immediately excavation and reinforcing methods when necessary. To do so, it is important to be able to predict the final tunnel behavior based on the initial tunnel behavior as early as possible. In this study, the correlations were obtained between the initial and the final convergence by analyzing statistically the convergence measurement data, collected from two domestic road tunnels under construction using NATM. In order to estimate the unknown displacements, occurred during the period between the excavation and the first measurement, two methods were used - one is the method by means of regression analysis using a modified exponential function and the other the method by a simple linear regression analysis using the data measured within the distance from tunnel face equal to the tunnel diameter (D). Finally, the relationships were obtained between the initial and final convergence, including the non-measured displacements estimated from the two different methods, by performing linear regression analyses. The regression analysis results showed that there are clear linear relationships between the initial and final convegence and the difference between the two linear regression equations was not that large for when using the exponential function and the simple linear function to estimate the non-measured displacements.