Study on inner force and dislocation of segments caused by shield machine attitude

Attitude deflection of shield machine is inevitable in process of driving forward, therefore, the tail brush, circular shape retainer and even shell of shield machine will extrude the exterior surfaces of segments. The squeezing action acting on segments causes dislocation, stress concentration and even crack in segments. Finite element code, ADINA, was used to analyze numerical tunnel model of 9 segment rings. The loads acting on different segment rings included squeezing action of tail brush under four attitude deflection, jacking forces, grouting pressure and earth pressure. The aspects of analysis included displacement feature and stress distribution. The analysis results indicate attitude deflection of shield machine causes biggish dislocation between segments, and the key segment is the most affected and weakest part in same ring which causes irregular displacement and dislocation in whole tunnel structure. In general, under squeezing action induced by shield machine, circumferential seam is much more affected than longitudinal seam. The squeezing action causes the segment dislocation exceed the limiting dislocation value which means curved bolt has extruded bolt hole and crack or breakage frequently concentrates in key segment and adjacent segment. Deflection of shield machine attitude is inevitable, but two deflection attitudes, including shield machine attitude deviates right direction and the head of shield machine goes down, should be avoided.