State-of-art and Prospect of Tunnel Pressure Archs (Load-Bearing Archs)

  • Ma Kaimeng ,
  • Zhang Junru ,
  • Yan Zhijian ,
  • Wang Bo
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  • 1. School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University,Chengdu 610031,P.R. China;
    2. School of Civil Engineering, Shijiazhuang Tiedao University,Shijiazhuang 050043,P.R. China

Received date: 2024-06-17

  Online published: 2025-05-06

Abstract

With the development of China's transportation network and the improvement of construction techniques, the construction of numerous high-difficulty tunnels has driven the in-depth advancement of tunnel engineering research. As the primary load-bearing region of the surrounding rock, the range of the pressure arch significantly impacts tunnel stability. Although extensive studies on tunnel pressure (bearing) arches exist, systematic reviews in this field remain scarce. This paper reviews the research progress on pressure arches, tracing their historical development and summarizing research methods and boundary determination criteria. Among these, the inner boundary defined by “tangential stress greater than the original rock stress” and the outer boundary defined by “tangential stress recovering to 110% of the original rock stress” are widely recognized. The formation of the pressure arch is influenced by the interplay of surrounding rock conditions, in-situ stress magnitude, tunnel shape and size, and construction factors. Its evolution process can be categorized into four states: initial pressure arch, separated pressure arch, stable pressure arch, and collapsed pressure arch. The primary goal of construction support is to prevent the occurrence of the collapsed pressure arch state. The relationship between surrounding rock pressure and the range of the pressure arch reveals that the support structure in rock tunnels mainly provides deformation pressure to maintain the stability of the surrounding rock, whereas in soil tunnels, the support structure primarily resists the loose load within the pressure arch. Future research should focus on improving the arch formation mechanism, investigating the distribution of pressure arches in heterogeneous rock masses, and exploring the three-dimensional dynamic morphology of pressure arches.

Cite this article

Ma Kaimeng , Zhang Junru , Yan Zhijian , Wang Bo . State-of-art and Prospect of Tunnel Pressure Archs (Load-Bearing Archs)[J]. Chinese Journal of Underground Space and Engineering, 2025 , 21(2) : 551 -562 . DOI: 10.20174/j.JUSE.2025.02.22

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