Analysis of Underground Tunnels in Explosion Loading Based on Peak Particle Velocity

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Abstract

Underground tunnels, play an important role in protecting important installations from various forces including explosions. Surface and penetrating blasts could deteriorate tunnel surcharge,  enveloping space and exerting a lot of load on the tunnel lining. Therefore, to withstand the blast, blast load should be taken into account in tunnel design, in such a way that the tunnel could bear the loading caused by devastation of surrounding soil and rock. One of the widely used criteria for assessing failure of tunnel and underground structures due to blast loads is “Peak Particle Velocity”. In the present paper, this criterion is employed in order to investigate the behavior of underground tunnels under blast load using of explicit dynamic nonlinear finite element software LSDYNA.  Then, the effect of cross-section on tunnel under blast load is investigated by comparing the peak participle velocity parameter, displacement of center of roof and Von-Mises stress on the rectangular and horseshoe cross-section. It has been shown that, with equal dimension, the environment enveloping the rectangular cross-section possesses higher resistance than horseshoe cross section.

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