Abstract

The entrance and the exit structures of tunnels are often constructed on unfavorably soft soils (colluvial soils) as a result of environment-friendly design highlighted in recent years. For construction of such a tunnel, it is essential to secure sufficient bearing capacity of the lining supports as well as that of the surrounding soils. In this regard, H-shape steel-ribs with high stiffness are commonly used for lining supports. However, it was the past convention to ignore the effect of the steel-ribs in numerical evaluation of the structural safety. This study is intended to show how the shotcrete stresses are relieved by the steel ribs, on the basis of numerical data obtained from 3-dimensional finite element analysis. The effect of steel ribs to shotcrete stresses is examined at different levels of application rates, i.e., 0%, 50%, 75% and 100% of the total stiffness. The data obtained from numerical analysis was compared with in-situ measurement. The effect of steel ribs to shotcrete stresses was verified and appropriate total stiffness was proposed in the range of 50%~75%.