Study on Stress Field Distribution during the Construction of a Group of Tunnels Using the Pile-Beam-Arch Method

To study stress field distributions during the construction of a group of tunnels using the pile-beam-arch method, the excavation for an underground station of Beijing subway line 7 was taken as an engineering problem, and a numerical structural model of a tunnel group was built with the aid of software. In this model, four stress-monitoring planes were set up to extract the data obtained from monitoring stress. The construction of the pilot tunnels was simulated according to six established construction schemes, and images were generated for the stress field distribution on each monitoring plane using different schemes. Finally, a verification of physical model tests was carried out. The results show that the effect of excavation on vertical stress in pilot tunnels has a range that is essentially equal to twice the width of the station. After the excavation of pilot tunnels, peaks appeared both at the tops of the pilot tunnels and between the bottoms of the tunnels; moreover, valleys appeared both at the bottoms of the pilot tunnels and between the tops of the tunnels. Pilot tunnels located at the top of the group were less affected during excavation than the tunnels located at the bottom of the group both in stress concentration factor and in the point of extreme stress. Finally, the model verified the numerical simulation results of the stress variation law.