Abstract
Shirasu which is defined as the non-welded part of pyroclastic flow deposits is widely distributed in the southern part of Kyushu Island. Shirasu is regarded as a soft ground when the mountain tunneling method is applied because its unconfined compression strength is only 20-100 kN/m2. Nevertheless, it is well known among the practical engineers that Shirasu tunnel is stable. In this paper the mechanical properties of Shirasu tunnel was analyzed, taking account of the geotechnical properties of Shirasu ground, where the laboratory and in-situ tests were carried out with the field measurement in tunnel. Furthermore the numerical experiment by FDM was also performed by using the proposed nonlinear mechanical model for Shirasu ground to compare the numerical results with those obtained from the field measurement.
