Abstract

In a tunnel, failure of its supports can cause failure of the tunnel. Therefore it is important to estimate safety factor of the tunnel which the failure of its supports is taken into account. In previous studies, supports of tunnels were usually modelled as beam elements. The failure of the supports was decided by comparing the allowable stress and the calculated bending stresses inside the beam elements in estimating safety factor of the tunnel considering the failure of its supports. In this study, it is suggested how to model the supports properly. To this end, supports of a tunnel were modelled by both beam (elastic) elements and continuum (elasto-plastic) elements in two dimensional numerical analyses. Meanwhile, it was analyzed how rock mass class, coefficient of lateral pressure, shotcrete thickness, the existence of rock bolt, and excavation method had an effect on the safety factor of a tunnel.