Research on the Spatial Distribution Laws of Shear Force of Immersed Tunnel Segment Joints
(1 School of Civil Engineering, Shijiazhuang Tiedao University, Shijiazhuang 050043; 2 College of Highway, Chang′an University,Xi′an 710064; 3 Liaoning Provincial Communication Planning & Design Institute Co. Ltd., Shenyang 110166; 4 Quality and Safety Supervision Station of Construction Engineering in Xi′an, Xi′an 710061)
Abstract:
In order to study the spatial distribution laws of the shear force of shear keys on segment joints along the longitudinal and transverse directions, a 1∶4.69 large-scale segment joint model test is conducted on a settlement test platform by taking differential settlement as a control variable. A full-scale 3-D numerical simulation is carried out with consideration to the bilinear material characteristics of shear key rubber blankets and the contact effects between segment joints, as well as segment and soil. A comparison of the model test and numerical simulation results shows that: 1) there is an imbalance in the shear force distributions along the transverse direction, and for the design it is unreasonable to distribute shear force equally or distribute shear force according to the contacting area between the shear key tenon and shear key groove; 2) the shear force of a segment joint is transferred vertically in the form of the left part of a quadratic curve with an upward opening, and the attenuation rate of the shear force increases with an increase of the differential settlement; and 3) the shear force′s influential scope of the segment joint equals 3 segments for the vertical differential settlement and 4 segments for the longitudinal differential settlement.