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A modified rock mass classification considering seismic effects in the basic quality (BQ) system

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Abstract

Safe construction and operation of tunnels in high seismic risk regions require special aseismic design. A possible solution to this issue is to consider the earthquake damage that a tunnel may suffer beforehand in the process of engineering rock mass classification during the geotechnical investigation phase. Then, the tunnel support system is designed with this modified classification result. To verify this hypothesis, this work investigates the Chinese engineering rock mass classification system, the basic quality (BQ) rating system, considering seismic effects. The main contribution of the current work is to quantitatively modify the rock mass intactness index Kv in the BQ system considering the potential earthquake damage under various levels of design peak ground acceleration. The procedure to obtain the rock mass basic quality index considering the design peak ground acceleration is proposed and verified with real field data from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. This approach is a promising enhancement of the empirical methods for considering the seismic effects for tunnels that require special design against possible earthquake impacts.

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Abbreviations

BQ:

Basic quality index

[BQ]:

Corrected basic quality

D :

Span of the tunnel

J v :

Volumetric joint number

K v :

Intactness index of the rock mass

PGA:

Peak ground acceleration

R c :

Saturated intact uniaxial compressive strength

V pm :

P wave velocity of the rock mass

V pr :

P wave velocity of the intact rock

η :

Seismic axial force multiplier of the tunnel liner

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Funding

This work is supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (no.2016YFC0401803), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no.41672319, no.51779253, and 52079133), Major project of the National Basic Research Program of China (no. 51991393), the Key Laboratory for Geo-Mechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining & Technology (no. SKLGDUEK1912), CRSRI Open Research Program (program SN: CKWV2019746/KY), MOE Key Lab of Disaster Forecast and Control in Engineering, Jinan University (no. 20200904002), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, Hubei, China

    Zhen Cui & Qian Sheng

  2. School of Engineering Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 10049, China

    Zhen Cui & Qian Sheng

  3. State Key Laboratory for GeoMechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, China

    Zhen Cui & Gui-min Zhang

  4. School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, Zhejiang, China

    Hua Liu

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  1. Zhen Cui
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  2. Qian Sheng
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  3. Gui-min Zhang
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  4. Hua Liu
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Correspondence to Zhen Cui.

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Cui, Z., Sheng, Q., Zhang, Gm. et al. A modified rock mass classification considering seismic effects in the basic quality (BQ) system. Bull Eng Geol Environ 80, 2249–2260 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-020-02064-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-020-02064-7

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