This paper presents an information-gap approach (IGA) from a non-probabilistic viewpoint to perform rock tunnel reliability assessment when encountering one particular form of severely deficient information on the variability for the uncertain parameters of rock properties. Such a particular form of severe uncertainty corresponds to the circumstances, where there is nothing available to describe an uncertain rock parameter other than a nominal estimate, with upper and lower error bounds on either side of that estimate unknown. First, a typical rock tunnel example is selected to summarize its deterministic stability modelling. Later, the underlying principles regarding the IGA are elucidated, which involves two key issues. One pertains to the information-gap model built to quantify uncertainty arising from a severe lack of information, and the other is associated with the robustness function constructed to assess reliability in non-probabilistic terms. Further, a step by step procedure in applying the developed IGA in a rock tunnel engineering context is described, and then its applications are illustrated at length with the chosen typical rock tunnel example. This established non-probabilistic IGA, which aims to address rock tunnel reliability problems having severe uncertainty, could be viewed as a potential supplement to the traditional probabilistic method.

本文从非概率角度提出了一种信息鸿沟方法（IGA），用于在遇到一种特定形式的严重不确定性的岩石特性不确定性信息时，进行岩洞可靠性评估。这种特定形式的严重不确定性与情况相对应，其中除了名义上的估计值外，没有其他任何可用来描述不确定岩石参数的信息，估计值的上下误差范围均未知。首先，选择一个典型的岩石隧道实例来总结其确定性稳定性模型。稍后，阐明了有关IGA的基本原则，其中涉及两个关键问题。一个与信息鸿沟模型有关，该模型旨在量化由于严重缺乏信息而引起的不确定性，另一个与构造为以非概率术语评估可靠性的鲁棒性函数相关。此外，还介绍了在岩石隧道工程环境中应用已开发的IGA的分步过程，然后以所选的典型岩石隧道示例详细说明了其应用。这个已建立的非概率IGA旨在解决具有严重不确定性的岩洞可靠性问题，可以被视为对传统概率方法的潜在补充。