A closed-form elastic solution for stresses and displacements around tunnels

Abstract A closed-form plane strain solution is presented for stresses and displacements around tunnels based on the complex potential functions and conformal mapping representation. The tunnel is assumed to be driven in a homogeneous, isotropic, linear elastic and pre-stressed geomaterial. Further, the tunnel is considered to be deep enough such that the stress distribution before the excavation is homogeneous. Needless to say that tunnels of semi-circular or “D” cross-section, double-arch cross-section, or tunnels with arched roof and parabolic floor, have a great number of applications in soil/rock underground engineering practice. For the specific type of semi-circular tunnel the distribution of stresses and displacements around the tunnel periphery predicted by the analytical model are compared with those of the FLAC 2D numerical model, as well as, with Kirsch's “circular” solution. Finally, a methodology is proposed for the estimation of conformal mapping coefficients for a given cross-sectional shape of the tunnel.