AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE FAILURE BEHAVIOR AND THE STRENGTH OF A CUT AND COVER TUNNEL

Abstract

 In the case of the collapse of the Daikai Station of the Kobe Rapid Transit Railway when the 1995 Kobe Earthquake occurred, it was clear that a shear failure of the center pillars of a cut and cover tunnel was partly the cause of the collapse of the whole tunnel. However, it has not been clarified how severe damage to a side wall influenced the degree of this collapse. In this research, we conducted a static loading test using a reinforced concrete cut and cover tunnel model to understand the process of failure and structural strength when the side wall of the tunnel sustained severe damage. From the results of this static loading test, we were able to clarify that the severe damage to the side wall by a bending failure did not significantly influence the strength of the whole tunnel and the shear failure of the side wall did not cause a complete collapse of the cut and cover tunnel.