Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association ISSN:2233-8292(Print) 2287-4747(Online) 한국터널지하공간학회 논문집

When a new tunnel is excavated by the drill and blast method near pre-existing underground structures or tunnels due to the region restricted condition such as urban area, the ground will be relaxed by the excavation. In this case, issues can be created in terms of stability of pre-existing underground structures. One of major factors determining the stability of pre-existing underground structures can be a separation distance between pre-existing underground structures and a newly excavated tunnel. The region of ground relaxation defined by the plastic zone due to new excavation can be varied by separation distance. In this study, in other to estimate an influence of new tunnel excavation in terms of separation distance on the stability of pre-existing large pipelines, two-dimensional scaled model tests using plaster were performed for six models which have a different separation distance. The results show that based on the analysis of induced displacement during tunnel construction, the displacement decreases as the separation distance between large pipeline and new tunnel is increased until the distance is 2.5 times of pipeline diameter. Beyond this point, however, the displacement has become stabilized.