Authors: D. Young, A. Dean, and G.J.E. Kramer
Abstract
Many large cities around the world are subjected to seismic ground shaking. As these cities grow,
more and more tunnels will be constructed to facilitate the movement of people, goods, and services. The
purpose of this paper is to discuss the use and performance of precast concrete tunnel linings (PCTL) in seismic areas. Use of one-pass PCTL has become the most favoured lining type for closed-face soft ground tunnelling, due to the overall value added to the project. However, the seismic behaviour of PCTL segments is not well understood, and the volume of published work on the subject is relatively thin. This paper is intended to bridge the gap between the theory of PCTL design and the performance of the lining during earthquake shaking. An extensive literature search was conducted to find tunnel inspection reports from various earthquakes that have occurred in urban areas over the past 25 years.
PCTL performance in earthquakes is then reviewed based upon available data. Because earthquake reconnaissance reports typically focus on poor performance, and the performance of PCTL tunnels has been good, there are only a few published inspection reports available. Another reason why case histories are not common is that PCTL were not widely used until the 1980s. Nevertheless, case histories of PCTL performance in the Kobe (1995), Athens (1999), and Hualien (2002) earthquakes are available. Lessons learned from these reports, and similarities between PCTL performance in earthquakes are presented. PCTL segments have inherent advantages over other tunnel linings when subjected to earthquake shaking. These advantages are discussed and related to the case histories noted above.
A discussion of important considerations and information needed from future earthquake reconnaissance reports and seismological data
needed for design of PCTL in seismic areas is included.
