Nonlinear analysis of NATM tunnel construction with the boundary element method

This paper presents a novel approach to the simulation of NATM tunnel construction using the Boundary Element Method (BEM) as principal numerical method. This new approach has the advantage that only the excavation surface, the possible plastic zones and the tunnel lining have to be discretised. The whole rock mass is represented by the BEM whereas the Finite Element Method (FEM) is used to represent the tunnel lining only. Thus, a general coupling strategy for coupling three-dimensional boundary elements with shell finite elements (shotcrete) and beam finite elements (steel arches) is presented. To achieve realistic results the effect of hydration of the shotcrete and yielding of the steel arches is considered in the excavation process. Furthermore, the nonlinear rock behaviour is modelled more realistically by using a powerful hierarchical constitutive model which considers a large range of rock materials. The combination of these ideas results in higher user-friendliness and efficiency. Some verification tests and practical applications in tunnelling are presented.