Dynamic responses and damage analyses of tunnel lining and errant large vehicle during collision

Collision accidents between errant vehicles and tunnels occur frequently, causing serious loss of life and property as well as the damage to the tunnel lining. Damage analysis of the tunnel lining under collision loads is still a lack of research at present. Based on dynamic finite element method, this study simulates and analyzes the interaction between errant large vehicles and tunnel lining structure and their dynamic response processes under various collision cases. It is noted that the lining structure mainly suffers tensile damage and its value increases with the increases of the collision angle and the vehicle speed. The larger the vehicle speed and the collision angle are, the bigger accelerations the passengers experience. A series of in-situ damage detections and sampling tests of the tunnel lining in a real collision accident that occurred in the Panlong Tunnel on Jinghu Highway in China in 2009 strongly approve the numerical simulation results. This study provides technical supports to the optimal design and operations management of tunnels.