Browsing by Author "Vardakos, Sotirios"

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    Back-analysis methods for optimal tunnel design
    Vardakos, Sotirios (Virginia Tech, 2007-01-24)
    A fundamental element of the observational method in geotechnical engineering practice is the utilization of a carefully laid out performance monitoring system which provides rapid insight of critical behavioral trends of the work. Especially in tunnels, this is of paramount importance when the contractual arrangements allow an adaptive tunnel support design during construction such as the NATM approach. Utilization of measurements can reveal important aspects of the ground-support interaction, warning of potential problems, and design optimization and forecasting of future behavior of the underground work. The term back-analysis involves all the necessary procedures so that a predicted simulation yields results as close as possible to the observed behavior. This research aims in a better understanding of the back-analysis methodologies by examining both simplified approaches of tunnel response prediction but also more complex numerical methods. Today a wealth of monitoring techniques is available for tunnel monitoring. Progress has also been recorded in the area of back-analysis in geotechnical engineering by various researchers. One of the most frequently encountered questions in this reverse engineering type of work is the uniqueness of the final solution. When possible errors are incorporated during data acquisition, the back analysis problem becomes formidable. Up to the present, various researchers have presented back-analysis schemes, often coupled with numerical methods such as the Finite Element Method, and in some cases the more general approach of neural networks has been applied. The present research focuses on the application of back-analysis techniques that are applicable to various conditions and are directly coupled with a widely available numerical program. Different methods are discussed and examples are given. The strength and importance of global optimization is introduced for geotechnical engineering applications along with the novel implementation of two global optimization algorithms in geotechnical parameter identification. The techniques developed are applied to the back-analysis of a modern NATM highway tunnel in China and the results are discussed.
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    Distinct Element Modeling of the Shimizu Tunnel No.3 in Japan
    Vardakos, Sotirios (Virginia Tech, 2003-12-04)
    In the present research a highway twin tunnel project completed in Japan in 1998 is used as a case study to verify results of numerical analyses with measurement data. Each of the tunnels had approximately 1.1 km of length. For this project a wide geometry of approximately 18.0 m was selected by the designers to facilitate three lanes per tunnel. A sequential tunneling technique known in Japan as the "TBM pilot and enlargement method" was used along with NATM principles. The tunnel was used as a reference project, involving performance testing and extensive monitoring in order to verify and standardize support requirements for other tunnels excavated under similar geologic conditions in the Tomei II expressway. The tunnel was excavated in a region consisting mainly of soft sedimentary rocks, such as locally weathered sandstone, underlain by interbedded sandstone and mudstone. Due to observed non symmetric deformations and loads in the tunnel, the distinct element and the convergence-confinement methods were used during the numerical simulations. A parametric analysis was performed initially in a pseudo-continuum approach to study the behavior of the wide tunnel geometry under various conditions. The effects of rock mass elastic modulus, in situ Ko ratio and boundary conditions are discussed. More complex parametric studies were performed in a stochastically generated model by using joint spatial data from geotechnical investigations. The Barton-Bandis constitutive law was assumed for the behavior of the joints. The sensitivity of the ground "characteristic curves" was examined by statistical variation of the joint shear strength parameters. A final simulation using the code UDEC and the convergence-confinement method yields interesting results which are comparable to the monitored data.