Abstract

The structural anisotropy and heterogeneity of rock mass, caused by discontinuities and weak zones, have a great influence on the deformation behavior of a tunnel. A tunnel construction in these complex ground conditions is very difficult. No matter how excellent a geological investigation is, local uncertainties of rock mass conditions still remain. Under these uncertain circumstances, an accurate forecast of the ground conditions ahead of the advancing tunnel face is indispensable to a safe and economic tunnel construction. This paper presents the effect of anisotropy and heterogeneity of the rock masses to be excavated by numerical analysis. The influences of distance from weak zone, the size or dimension, the different stiffness and the orientation of weak zones are analysed by 3-D finite element analysis. By analysing these numerical results, the tunnel behavior due to excavation can be well understood and the prediction of rock mass condition ahead of the tunnel face can be possible.