Abstract A model test of the portals of two parallel tunnels is carried out to learn about the dynamic response of tunnel liner and the interaction between surrounding rock and liner in earthquakes. The experiment results show that: first, when the seismic acceleration traverses the model material, the low-frequency segment of seismic acceleration is magnified and the high-frequency segment of seismic acceleration is attenuated; second, the horizontal shear failure of the surrounding rock is caused by the interaction between the surrounding rock and the tunnel liner, and the cracks in the surrounding rock grow nearly in the same direction, however, because of the different constraints on the tunnel liner by the surrounding rock outside the tunnel, the destruction degree is different; third, the liner cracks of the left tunnel with short length appear mainly at the left tunnel entrance, the cracks of right tunnel with large length appear mainly at the right tunnel entrance and the tunnel cross-section nearly which is in the same vertical plane with the left tunnel portal, and the liner cracks are distributed mainly on the closer side of two liners between the two holes; finally, in the same vertical testing cross-section, the liner maximal strain at the inner sides between two tunnels is greater than outer sides. In addition, the cross-section maximal strain on the right tunnel decreases with the increasing distance between the tested cross-section and a reference vertical plane containing the left tunnel portal.