Investigation of divergence tunnel excavation according to horizontal offsets between tunnels

In most cases in urban areas, construction of divergence tunnel should take into account proximity to existing tunnel in operation. This inevitably leads to deformation of adjacent structures and surrounding ground. Preceding researches mainly dealt with reinforcing of the diverging section for the stability including the pillar. This has limitations in investigating the interactive effects between existing structures and surrounding ground due to the excavation of the divergence tunnel. In this study, the complex interactive behavior of pile, the operating tunnel, and the surrounding ground according to horizontal offsets between the two adjacent tunnels was quantitatively analyzed based on conditions diverged from operating tunnel in urban areas. The effects on ground structures confirmed by analyzing the ground surface settlements, pile settlements, and the axial forces of the pile. The axial forces of lining in operating tunnel investigated to estimate their impact on existing tunnel. In addition, in order to identify the deformation of the surrounding ground, the close range photogrammetry applied to the laboratory model test for confirming the underground displacements. Two-dimensional finite element numerical analysis was also performed and compared with the results. It identified that the impact of excavating a divergence tunnel decreased as the horizontal offset increased. In particular, when the horizontal offset was larger than 1.0D (D is the diameter of operating tunnel), the impact on existing structures further reduced and the deformation of surrounding ground was concentrated at the top of the divergence tunnel.