Effect of burial depth of a new tunnel on the seismic response of an existing tunnel

Burial depth is a crucial factor affecting the forces and deformation of tunnels during earthquakes. One key issue is a lack of understanding of the effect of a change in the buried depth of a single-side tunnel on the seismic response of a double-tunnel system. In this study, shaking table tests were designed and performed based on a tunnel under construction in Dalian, China. Numerical models were established using the equivalent linear method combined with ABAQUS finite element software to analyze the seismic response of the interacting system. The results showed that the amplification coefficient of the soil acceleration did not change evidently with the burial depth of the new tunnel but decreased as the seismic amplitude increased. In addition, the existing tunnel acceleration, earth pressure, and internal force were hardly affected by the change in the burial depth; for the new tunnel, the acceleration and internal force decreased as the burial depth increased, while the earth pressure increased. This shows that the earth pressure distribution in a double-tunnel system is relatively complex and mainly concentrated on the arch spandrel and arch springing of the relative area. Overall, when the horizontal clearance between the center of the two tunnels was more than twice the sum of the radius of the outer edges of the two tunnels, the change in the burial depth of the new tunnel had little effect on the existing one, and the tunnel structure was deemed safe. These results provide a preliminary understanding and reference for the seismic performance of a double-tunnel system.