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Deformation analysis and safety assessment of existing metro

tunnels affected by excavation of a foundation pit
Shuaihua Ye a,b,⇑, Zhuangfu Zhao a,b, Denqun Wang c
a
School of Civil Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China
b
Key Laboratory of Disaster Mitigation in Civil Engineering of Gansu Province, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China
c
Architectural Design Institute Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230000, China

Received 8 February 2020; received in revised form 16 May 2020; accepted 2 June 2020

Abstract

The excavation of a foundation pit considerably affects the adjacent structures and underground pipelines owing to the change in the
stress state of the surrounding soil, resulting in deformation. The study of an actual engineering case was conducted to examine the influ-
ence of excavation on the deformation of adjacent subway tunnels. The finite element analysis software PLAXIS 3D was used to simulate
the entire excavation process. The structural design of the foundation pit was optimized based on the simulation results to ensure the
stability of the foundation pit and the safety of the existing subway tunnel structure. Finally, the safety evaluation of the excavation
of the foundation pit that caused the deformation of the adjacent subway tunnel was performed. The influence of the excavation and
unloading of the foundation pit on the subway tunnel is closely related to the distance between the subway and the foundation pit,
the amount of earthwork excavated at one time, and the engineering geological conditions. The results of this paper can provide useful
reference for the design optimization and safety assessment of similar projects.

Keywords: Foundation pit excavation; Deformation; Metro tunnel; Numerical simulation; Safety assessment

1 Introduction
The rapid development of urban construction has led to
increased underground space utilization for the alleviation
of the urban traffic and space crisis. Increasing number of
excavation projects close to or passing through the upper
or lower part of a subway tunnel has led to complex engi-
neering that involves the tunnel.
Previous studies have shown that the excavation of
foundation pits can easily destroy the initial stress equilib-
rium state of the site soil. Excavation and unloading redis-
tribute the stress state of the surrounding rock, resulting in
a series of changes in mechanical behavior (Hou, Wang, &
Zhang, 2007; Liu, Jiang, Ng, & Hong, 2011; Luo & Das,
⇑ Corresponding author at: School of Civil Engineering, Lanzhou
University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China.
E-mail address: yeshuaihua@163.com (S. Ye).
2016; Zhang, Yang, & Yao, 2010; Zhang, Zhang, Wu,
Goh, Lacasse, Liu, & Liu, 2020a). The deformation of
the foundation pit is related to excavation unloading,
unloading modulus, excavation method, space-time effect,
groundwater, and other factors (Kim, Park, Han, Kim, &
Kim, 2004; Park, Joo, & Kim, 2009; Zhang, Wang,
Zhou, Zhang, Goh, & Hou, 2018; Zhang, Zhang, & Goh,
2018; Zhang, Zhang, Wang, Zhang, & Goh, 2019). These
factors pose great challenges to the design and construction
of the foundation pit. Improper handling of the excavation
process will lead to unexpected deformation of the tunnel
and eventually threaten the safety of the subway. There-
fore, it is very important to understand the deformation
characteristics and internal force distribution during the
excavation of existing subway tunnels (Ding, Xian, &
Liu, 2011; Hou, Wang, & Zhang, 2009).
During construction around urban rail transit struc-
tures, formulation of safe and reliable construction

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Please cite this article as: S. Ye, Z. Zhao and D. Wang, Deformation analysis and safety assessment of existing metro tunnels affected by excavation of a
foundation pit, Underground Space, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2020.06.002
2 S. Ye et al. / Underground Space xxx (xxxx) xxx
schemes and protective measures is a mandate. The con-
struction of the project should not affect the normal func-
tions, carrying capacity, durability, and other functions
of the urban rail transit structure. Additionally, the overall
environment must also be considered in foundation pit
construction to ensure the safety of the tunnel within the
allowable range (Mangushev, Osokin, & Garnyk, 2016;
Zhang, Zhang, & Han, 2017). Considering the impact of
foundation pit excavation, several extensive studies have
been conducted to analyze the structural deformation,
safety control, and environmental impact of the subway
tunnel and the optimal design of the supporting structure
of the foundation pit (Benton & Phillips, 1991; Ding,
Xian, & Liu, 2011; Schroeder, 2002; Xu, Chen, Wang,
Hu, & Fang, 2015).
Engineering practice shows that it is necessary to evalu-
ate the safety and risk of rock and soil mass according to
different stress–strain states (Chen, Wang, & Zhang,
2019; Goh, Zhang, Zhang, Zhang, & Liu, 2017a; Goh,
Zhang, Zhang, & Otard, 2017b; Zhang, Li, Wu, Li, Goh,
& Zhang, 2020b; Zhang, Li, Li, Zhang, & Goh, 2020c).
The excavation may have a series of adverse effects on
the existing tunnel below it. Therefore, evaluating the
response of existing shield tunnels related to adjacent exca-
vated tunnels is critical for geotechnical engineers (Huang,
Schweiger, & Huang, 2013; Liang, Wu, Yu, Jiang, & Liu,
2018). Owing to the complexity of the foundation pit con-
struction boundary, it is difficult to solve the impact of
foundation pit excavation on the subway tunnel by analyt-
ical methods. Numerical methods provide a powerful tool
for evaluating and predicting soil deformation and struc-
tural behavior. Many scholars have used numerical simula-
tion methods to obtain insights on construction analysis
and safety assessment of foundation pit engineering
(Bhatkar, Barman, Mandal, & Usmani, 2017; Gao & Yu,
2014; Luo, Li, Zhou, & Di, 2018; Ngcharles, Lu, & Peng,
2013; Zhang, Goh, & Xuan, 2015).
Although results have been achieved in the actual anal-
ysis and numerical simulation of foundation pit engineer-
ing, additional research on the impact of foundation pit
excavation on the adjacent existing subway tunnel is
required. In this paper, based on the proposed project of
Hefei Shengli 58, the finite element software PLAXIS 3D
was used to perform numerical simulation and safety eval-
uation on the deformation effect caused by the excavation
of the adjacent subway tunnel. The analysis methods and
results can prove to be a valuable baseline for similar
projects.
2 Engineering situation
2.1 Engineering background
The proposed project site is located in the northeast of
the intersection of Shengli Road and Chuzhou Road in
Hefei City, Anhui Provence, China. The planned project
consists of a 26-story office building with a three-story
Please cite this article as: S. Ye, Z. Zhao and D. Wang, Deformation analysis and safety assessment of existing metro tunnels affected by excavation of a
foundation pit, Underground Space, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2020.06.002
basement. The excavation depth of the foundation pit is
approximately 12.85 m, and the excavation area is approx-
imately 3200 m2. In the south, there is an 8-story hotel with
an independent foundation and a pile foundation. A 6-
story building with natural foundations is built in the
south. Shengli Road is on the west side of the construction
site, and subway line 1 is below it. The plan of the
foundation-pit supporting system is shown in Fig. 1. The
foundation pit engineering support scheme adopts row
piles and double-layer horizontal concrete internal support
system. High-pressure rotary jet piles are used as water-
stop curtains. The temporary column in the foundation
pit is a cast-in-place pile, the upper part is lattice steel,
and the lower part is concrete. Figure 2 shows a sectional
view of the foundation-pit support structure.
Figure 3 shows the positional relationship between the
foundation-pit support structure and the subway tunnel.
The bottom of the subway tunnel is approximately
19.5 m underground. The inner diameter of the tunnel hole
is 6.0 m. The center distance between the two tunnels is
15.0 m, and the left line of subway line 1, close to the foun-
dation pit, is about 27.0 m away from the foundation pit
supporting pile. The project is located within the influence
scope of the urban rail transit safety protection zone.
According to relevant regulations, it is necessary to carry
out special safety risk assessment on the impact of rail
transit.
2.2 General situation of engineering geology and
hydrogeologic situation
The physical and mechanical properties of the soil were
comprehensively analyzed using borehole sampling. The
strata distributions in the field and properties as obtained
from the laboratory test are displayed in Table 1. The pro-
posed project site has a high-pressure water level, and there
are permeable layers such as silt and fine sand. The shallow
phreatic aquifer of the site is composed mainly of artificial
fill. The first layer of the site contains perched water in the
miscellaneous fill, which is mainly permeated by precipita-
tion and surface water. The third, fourth and fifth layers
contains a large amount of pressure-bearing groundwater.
The sixth layer contains some fractured pore water, which
is not very rich. During the geological survey, the measured
pressure head was about 4.0-m-high, and the static water
level elevation was approximately 10.96–12.69 m. The per-
meability coefficient of each layer of rock and soil is shown
in Table 2.
3 Establishment of three-dimensional numerical model
3.1 Calculation model
The finite-element software PLAXIS 3D simulation was
used to analyze the foundation-pit excavation process. The
excavation-related construction conditions are abstracted
into calculation steps for numerical analysis. The size of
 S. Ye et al. / Underground Space xxx (xxxx) xxx 3

Fig. 1. Plan of the supporting system of the foundation pit.

Fig. 2. Sectional view of the foundation pit support structure.

the foundation pit, excavation depth of the foundation pit, reduce the influence of the boundary effect of the founda-
distribution of surrounding buildings, and relative position tion pit model on the calculation results. Foundation-pit
of subway tunnels are comprehensively considered to construction is a process in which the soil is continuously

Please cite this article as: S. Ye, Z. Zhao and D. Wang, Deformation analysis and safety assessment of existing metro tunnels affected by excavation of a
foundation pit, Underground Space, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2020.06.002
4 S. Ye et al. / Underground Space xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 3. Position relationship between the foundation pit and subway tunnel.

Table 1
Soil parameters.
Soil layer Thickness of Thickness range of Unit weight, Poisson Cohesive Internal friction Elastic
soil layer /m soil layer /m c/(kN∙m3) ratio force, c /kPa angle, u /(°) Modulus,
E /MPa
①Miscellaneous fill 2.3 2.2–4.4 19 0.35 8 15 4.0
②Clay 3.7 1.8–4.6 19.5 0.25 65.4 13.2 10.0
③Silty clay with silt 3.7 2.2–4.1 19.9 0.3 27.9 14.1 8.1
④Silt mixed with silty clay 5.1 3.5–6.6 19.9 0.25 25.4 18.6 10.4
⑤Silt and silty sand 6.6 5.0–8.5 21.7 0.25 30 26 14.4
⑥-1 Strong weathered sandstone 3.0 2.6–4.2 22 0.2 40 25 24.0
⑥-2 Medium-weathered sandstone >10.0 – 22 0.18 120 27 120.0

Table 2
Permeability coefficient.
Soil layer Permeability coefficient /(cm∙s1)
①Miscellaneous fill 1
103
②Clay 1
107
③Silty clay with silt 4.12
106
④Silt mixed with silty clay 4
104
⑤Silt and silty sand 8
104
⑥-1 Strong weathered sandstone 1
103
⑥-2 Medium-weathered sandstone 1
107

unloaded and the stress and strain in the soil are continu-
ously redistributed. Consequently, the excavation of foun-
dation pit will affect the stress and deformation of soil in a
certain range around the foundation pit. According to
Saint-Venant’s principle and engineering experience, the
impact of excavation width on excavation depth is about
3–5 times, and the impact depth of excavation is about
2–4 times. According to the above dimensions, the calcu-
lated area is 250 m
200 m
40 m. The numerical model
of foundation pit is shown in Fig. 4. The mesh size of the
model, Le, is calculated by the following formula:
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
re 2 2 2
Le ¼
ðxmax  xmin Þ þ ðy max  y min Þ þ ðzmax  zmin Þ
20

where xmax , xmin , y max , y min , zmax , and zmin are the boundary
dimensions of the geometric model. re is the relative ele-
ment size coefficient, re = 0.5. The basic soil element of Fig. 4. 3D finite-element model: (a) model, (b) structure, and (c) mesh
the finite element mesh is a tetrahedron with 10 nodes. map.

Please cite this article as: S. Ye, Z. Zhao and D. Wang, Deformation analysis and safety assessment of existing metro tunnels affected by excavation of a
foundation pit, Underground Space, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2020.06.002
 S. Ye et al. / Underground Space xxx (xxxx) xxx 5

The finite element model has a total of 229 715 elements
and 334 905 nodes.
The excavation of foundation pit involves a complex
process of soil structure interaction. The establishment of
the constitutive relation is the key to the study of this pro-
cess. In this study, Mohr–Coulomb model is adopted as the
constitutive model of soil. The model parameters are listed
in Table 1.
The linear elastic model is used to simulate the founda-
tion pit supporting structure and subway tunnel. The
foundation-pit retaining structure (high-pressure rotary
jet piles) and subway lining structure are simulated using
the plate element according to the principle of stiffness
equivalence. The parameters are listed in Table 3. The
beam element is used to simulate the top beam, column,
waist beam, and inner support in the foundation-pit sup-
porting structure. The parameters of the beam element
are shown in Table 4. According to the engineering experi-
ence, the overload around the foundation pit is 20 kPa, the
value of the building is 15 kPa per floor, the lateral bound-
ary condition of the model is fixed along the normal direc-
tion, the bottom boundary is completely fixed, and the top
of the model is set as a free boundary.
3.2 Construction sequence
Following the mesh division, the construction sequence
is defined. Initially, the ‘‘K0 process” is used to generate the
initial stress field as construction sequence 1. The ‘‘K0 pro-
cess” is a calculation method used to generate initial stress
in PLAXIS 3D and K0 is calculated according to Jaky’s
empirical formula: K 0 ¼ 1  sinu, where u indicates the
internal friction angle of soil. In construction sequence 2,
the tunnel is generated and the displacement is reset to
zero. The excavation of foundation pit starts from con-
struction sequence 3. In order to facilitate the internal sup-
port construction, when excavating to the design level of
Table 3
Parameters of the shell elements.
Parameter Support Lining structure
structure of metro
Thickness, d 0.8 0.3
Unit weight, c 25 22
Material properties Isotropic Isotropic
Elastic modulus, E 3.0
107 3.45
107
Poisson’s ratio, m 0.20 0.20
the internal support, it is necessary to over-dig by
500 mm. The pore pressure in construction sequences 3–5
is calculated as a phreatic level, and the pore pressure in
construction sequences 6–8 is calculated as a steady-state
groundwater seepage to consider the influence of ground-
water. The model calculated a total of 45 calculation steps,
Table 5 shows the specific construction steps.
4 Numerical simulation results
4.1 Deformation analysis of foundation pit
4.1.1 Deformation of soil and supporting structure
The total displacement when the foundation pit is exca-
vated to 12.85 m is shown in Fig. 5. The total displace-
ment contour and vector diagram of the east-west
directional section of the foundation pit excavated to the
bottom of the pit are also obtained (refer to Fig. 6). The
main deformation caused by the excavation and unloading
of soil is the uplift of the soil at the bottom of the founda-
tion pit, and the maximum displacement is 58.9 mm. This
can be considered as the reaction of the original stress state
of the pit under the vertical unloading action of the soil.
As seen from Fig. 6(a), the displacement at the bottom
of the foundation pit is the largest. From the displacement
vector diagram shown in Fig. 6(b), it is clear that the total
displacement is directed toward the inside of the pit and is
concentrated on the side wall and the bottom of the pit. As
per the overall distribution profile of the displacement
isosurface when the foundation pit is excavated to
12.85 m (see Fig. 7), the deformation of the surrounding
soil mass presents an obvious circular sliding surface, and
the deformation area of the soil mass presents an elliptical
Table 5
Specific construction steps.
Sequence Construction sequence Calculation
steps
1 Generate the initial stress field 0–5
2 Generate tunnel; reset displacement to zero 5–10
3 Driving piles 10–14
Unit
4 Excavation to 0.9 m 15–17
5 Construction of the crown beam, the first inner 18–20
m support and the column
kN∙m3 6 Excavation to 7.7 m 21–32
– 7 Construction of the second inner support and 33–35
kN∙m2 the coupling beam
– 8 Excavation to 12.85 m 36–45

Table 4
Parameters of beam elements.
Parameters Top beam Lattice steel column Concrete column First inner support Second inner support Waist beam
2
Elastic modulus /(kN∙m ) 3.15
107
2.06
10 8
3.0
10
7
3.15
10 7
3.15
10 7
3.15
107
Unit weight /(kN∙m3) 25 78.5 25 25 25 25
Height /m 1.0 Diameter = 0.6 m Diameter = 0.6 m 1 1 1
Width /m 1.3 0.8 1 0.9

Please cite this article as: S. Ye, Z. Zhao and D. Wang, Deformation analysis and safety assessment of existing metro tunnels affected by excavation of a
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6 S. Ye et al. / Underground Space xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 7. Displacement isosurface of the foundation pit.

Fig. 5. Total displacement of foundation pit.

ment is 12.2 mm. Figure 8 shows the horizontal displace-
ment of the supporting structure when the foundation pit
is excavated to the bottom of the pit. It can be seen that
the deformation of the supporting structure of the founda-
tion pit is more pronounced in the areas with existing
buildings.
During the excavation of the foundation pit, the settle-
ment between the columns will be different owing to the
uneven load on each column. The layout of monitoring
points is shown in Fig. 9. On selecting the displacement
curve of the settlement monitoring points L01 and L03 of
the column (refer to Fig. 10), it can be seen that, with the
progress of foundation pit excavation, the deformation of
the column increases gradually, which is consistent with
the previous analysis. The maximum settlement is
8.8 mm, and the difference in settlement is small, which is
within the warning value range. In general, the support
structure has a small displacement and the settlement is
controlled within 20 mm. Thus, according to the Technical
code for protection of existing structures of urban rail tran-
sit (DBJ/T15-120-2017), the support design of the project is
successful.

4.1.2 Horizontal displacement of pile top

Fig. 6. Deformation of east–west section of foundation pit: (a) total To analyze the deformation law of the horizontal
displacement, and (b) displacement vector. displacement of the pile top, some monitoring points
(including W01, W02, W03, W06, W08, and W09) were
parabola distribution. The influence range is 2–3 times of selected in the supporting structure of the foundation pit.
the depth of foundation pit. The reason is that the side wall It can be seen from Fig. 11 that the change rate of the hor-
of the foundation pit is not only subjected to water and izontal displacement of the pile top at the monitoring
earth pressure, but also to the lateral thrust on the free side
due to excavation height difference and the additional load
of the soil sliding on the arc sliding surface. This action ren-
ders the soil around the foundation pit to appear as a plas-
tic zone, causing the soil outside the retaining structure to
move to the foundation pit and bulge at the bottom of the
pit.
As the excavation depth increases, the lateral pressure,
and deformation of the supporting structure of the founda-
tion pit increases. When the foundation pit is excavated to
7.7 m, the maximum horizontal displacement of the
supporting structure is 15.2 mm, and the maximum settle-
ment is 8.1 mm. When the foundation pit is excavated to
12.85 m, the maximum horizontal displacement of the
supporting structure is 23.8 mm, and the maximum settle- Fig. 8. Horizontal displacement of the supporting structure.

Please cite this article as: S. Ye, Z. Zhao and D. Wang, Deformation analysis and safety assessment of existing metro tunnels affected by excavation of a
foundation pit, Underground Space, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2020.06.002
 S. Ye et al. / Underground Space xxx (xxxx) xxx
Fig. 9. Layout of monitoring points.
Fig. 10. Settlement of columns.
points W01 and W02 is the largest during the pile driving
stage, the displacement of the pile top increases linearly,
and the maximum horizontal displacement is 16.5 mm.
After this stage, the deformation gradually slows down
and increases again in the final excavation stage. The dis-
placement of other monitoring points fluctuates.
The reason of the deformation is the proximity of the
monitoring points W01 and W02 to the road, and the heav-
ily loaded surrounding buildings. During the process of pile
driving, the soil squeezing effect and dynamic action
destroy the original static equilibrium state of the site,
and the horizontal displacement of the top of the pile
increases. The later deformation shows that the setting of
crown beam and internal support has an obvious con-
straint on the horizontal displacement of the pile top. At
the last excavation sequence, (steps 36–45) excavated from
7.7 m to 12.85 m, the displacement increases again.
There are two reasons for this. The first reason is that
the soil layer distribution at this stage is mainly silty clay
and silt. This is rich in confined water, has poor water per-
meability under long-term consolidation pressure, and is
sensitive to deformation. The second reason is that the
Please cite this article as: S. Ye, Z. Zhao and D. Wang, Deformation analysis and safety assessment of existing metro tunnels affected by excavation of a
foundation pit, Underground Space, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2020.06.002
7
Fig. 11. Horizontal displacement of the top of the pile.
amount of earthwork excavated at one time in this stage
is large. This leads to a large loss of soil layer, which makes
the soil stress field and displacement field have a large
adjustment in a short time, and the displacement response
of the structure changes significantly.
4.1.3 Lateral displacement of the pile
According to Fig. 9, the monitoring points CX01 and
CX02 are selected as typical to study the change law of
the lateral displacement of the pile body during the excava-
tion of the foundation pit. From Fig. 12, it can be seen that
the pile body has a certain lateral displacement when the
depth of the excavation is 0 m, which is the pre-
deformation during the process of pile driving. With the
development of engineering, the lateral displacement of
monitoring points CX01 and CX02 is getting increasingly
large. The lateral displacement of CX01 decreases gradu-
ally with the increase of pile depth, and changes linearly.
The maximum lateral displacement is 16.5 mm, which
occurs at the top of the pile. The lateral displacement of
CX02 is stable within about 3 m from the top of the pile.
The deformation below 3 m increases rapidly, and
decreases at a lower rate after the displacement reaches
the peak. The displacement curve is distributed in a ‘‘drum
shape.” At the bottom of the pile, the lateral displacement
fluctuates slightly. The maximum value is 23.8 mm, which
appears at about l/3 of the top of the pile, where l is the
excavation depth of the foundation pit.
The analysis of the drum-type distribution of measuring
point CX02 is as follows. After the first internal support is
completed, the foundation pit is re-excavated, and the sup-
port structure in the excavation depth can be simplified as a
statically indeterminate beam, fixed at one end, and simply
supported at the other end (Fig. 13(a)). One end of the stat-
ically indeterminate beam is constrained by the first inner
support, and the other end is fixed by the unexcavated soil.
The maximum negative bending moment of the structure is
9qx2/128, where q represents the uniform load. The maxi-
mum displacement response is 3x/8 from the hinge seat
(where x is the excavation depth of the foundation pit).
8 S. Ye et al. / Underground Space xxx (xxxx) xxx
Fig. 12. Lateral displacement of the pile for (a) CX01, and (b) CX02.
As the depth of the foundation pit increases, the position
moves down and the value continues to increase until the
second internal support structure increases the constraints.
The lateral displacement of measurement point CX01
changes linearly due to the existing 8-story building on
top of the foundation pit, and the measurement point is
located at the negative corner of the foundation pit. Alter-
natively, at monitoring point CX01, the active earth pres-
sure outside the foundation pit has a greater impact on
Fig. 13. Mechanism of action: (a) statically indeterminate beam, and (b) cantilever beam.
Please cite this article as: S. Ye, Z. Zhao and D. Wang, Deformation analysis and safety assessment of existing metro tunnels affected by excavation of a
foundation pit, Underground Space, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2020.06.002
the supporting structure, and the first internal support
has a smaller effect. The supporting structure can be simpli-
fied as a cantilever beam with one end fixed (Fig. 13(b)).
Under the action of active earth pressure, the structure
has a large displacement, and the maximum lateral dis-
placement occurs at the top of the pile.
4.2 Analysis of the influence of foundation pit excavation on
subway tunnel
This paper focuses on the effects of foundation pit exca-
vation on the deformation of subway tunnels and the addi-
tional stress on the segments.
4.2.1 Analysis of deformation of subway tunnel by
foundation pit excavation
It can be seen from the deformation diagram of the tun-
nel (Fig. 14) that the subway tunnel is displaced in the same
direction as the supporting structure. The total displace-
ment of the tunnel is shown in Table 6. The maximum dis-
placement of the tunnel is 2.6 mm, of which the vertical
maximum displacement is 0.2 mm, the maximum horizon-
tal displacement is 2.5 mm. Thus, the influence of tunnel
horizontal deformation is more pronounced than that of
vertical displacement.
According to the analysis in Section 4.1.1, the stress con-
centration occurs in the sidewall and bottom of the founda-
tion pit. According to Li’s study (Li, 2016), soil can be
modelled as an elastic-plastic material under the condition
of loading, reduced void ratio and compacted soil. The soil
and water pressure are gradually borne by the soil particle
skeleton, displaying the continuity characteristics of the
soil. Combined with the nonlinear cooperative deformation
of the soil-supporting structure and considering the conti-
nuity of the soil, the influence of the side wall stress of
the foundation pit is transferred to the tunnel lining struc-
ture through the soil. This forms a continuous response of
 S. Ye et al. / Underground Space xxx (xxxx) xxx 9

shown in Fig. 3, and the obtained displacement curve is

shown in Fig. 15. Combined with Fig. 14 and Table 6, it
can be seen that the tunnels on both sides have similar
changes. The displacement of the left line of subway line
1 is larger than that of the right line, indicating that the
subway tunnel is affected by the excavation and unloading
of the foundation pit and is related to the distance from the
foundation pit. It can be seen from Fig. 14 that when the
foundation pit is excavated to 7.7 m, the vertical displace-
ment of the tunnel is positive, indicating uplift deformation
of the tunnel, and when the foundation pit is excavated to
12.85 m, the vertical displacement is negative, indicating
the settlement deformation of the tunnel.
The excavation of the foundation pit mainly causes the
horizontal displacement of the tunnel, and has little effect
on the settlement and deformation. The displacement of
the monitoring points shows similar changes, and the hor-
izontal displacement is more pronounced than the vertical
settlement. During the sinking of the foundation pit, the
deformation is obvious. The horizontal displacement
increases linearly and the tunnel is slightly deformed for
the same reason. In the middle and late period of founda-
tion pit excavation, the deformation of the tunnel is small,
the left line tunnel has slight lifting deformation, and the
vertical displacement of the right line tunnel is basically
zero, indicating that the supporting structure can effectively
suppress the deformation of the soil. The horizontal dis-
placement of the tunnels on both sides changes significantly
and the tunnel produces a large settlement displacement
from the third excavation (steps 35–45) to the bottom of

Fig. 14. Total displacement of the tunnel: (a) excavation to 7.7 m, and
(b) excavation to 12.85 m.

Table 6
Total displacement of the tunnel.
Depth of foundation pit excavation /m Left line /mm Right line /mm
0.9 0.7 0.3
7.7 1.1 0.4
12.85 2.6 0.9

the supporting structure-soil-lining structure. Conse-

quently, the displacement of the lining structure will also
point inside of the foundation pit. This indicates that the
continuity characteristics of the soil and the nonlinear
cooperative deformation of the soil-supporting structure
need to be considered when excavating the foundation pit.
In the tunnel section close to the foundation pit, four
measuring points are respectively taken from the left and
right lines of subway line 1 to analyze the deformation
law of the tunnel. The position of the measuring point is Fig. 15. (a) Horizontal and (b) vertical displacement of the tunnel.

Please cite this article as: S. Ye, Z. Zhao and D. Wang, Deformation analysis and safety assessment of existing metro tunnels affected by excavation of a
foundation pit, Underground Space, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2020.06.002
10 S. Ye et al. / Underground Space xxx (xxxx) xxx

the foundation pit. Except for the reasons mentioned in 5 Conclusions

section 4.1.2, considering that the excavation of the foun-
dation pit to be below the water level and the soil perme- The calculation results of the three-dimensional numer-
ability poor, the excavation depth gradually approaches ical simulation software suggest that the foundation pit
the location of the tunnel, and the deformation is prone support design scheme of Shengli 58 project in Hefei is fea-
to change. The changes of the stress field and displacement sible. This can effectively restrain the deformation of the
field of the plastic zone of the soil outside the supporting soil around the foundation pit, and the influence on the
structure, caused by the excavation of the foundation pit, existing metro tunnel is maintained within the controllable
can be quickly transmitted to the tunnel, thereby causing range. The construction of the deep foundation pit, accord-
a visible displacement of the tunnel. ing to the scheme, will not endanger the structural safety of
the adjacent subway line 1. The specific conclusions are as
4.2.2 Influence of foundation pit excavation on additional follows:
stress of subway tunnel segments
The axial force and bending moment corresponding to (1) The influence of the excavation and unloading of the
the tunnel segments under the excavation conditions of foundation pit on the subway tunnel is closely related
the foundation pit are extracted from the numerical simu- to the distance between the subway and the founda-
lation results (Table 7). The maximum axial force is tion pit, the amount of earthwork excavated at one
710.0 kN and the maximum bending moment is 188.3 time, and the engineering geological conditions. If
kNm. Working condition 1 corresponds to the internal the excavation depth is closer to the tunnel, the defor-
force of the tunnel segment before excavation of the foun- mation is more sensitive. The influence of the founda-
dation pit. As inferred from the data analysis results, the tion pit excavation on the internal force of the tunnel
internal force of the tunnel segment does not change much structure is limited.
in spite of the excavation of the foundation pit. The maxi- (2) The initial disturbance during the piling of the foun-
mum axial force increment ratio is 1.97%, and the maxi- dation pit has the greatest impact on the supporting
mum bending moment increment ratio is 0.27% structure. Excavation and unloading mainly lead to
(Table 8). It can be seen that the excavation of the founda- the uplift of the soil below the excavation surface of
tion pit has little effect on the circumferential bending the foundation pit, and the supporting structure of
moment of the subway tunnel lining, and the internal force the foundation pit is displaced laterally. The defor-
change of the tunnel segment is within a controllable range. mation of the soil around the foundation pit forms
This implies that its strength can meet the requirements of an obvious arc sliding surface. The deformation area
the internal force change caused by the excavation of the of the soil is distributed in the shape of an ellipse
foundation pit. paraboloid, with an impact range of 2–3 times the
excavation depth of the foundation pit.
(3) Excavation of the foundation pit causes a continuous
Table 7 response of the supporting structure-soil-pipeline lin-
Internal force of tunnel segment. ing structure. Therefore, when designing the support-
Conditions Axial force /kN Bending moment /(kNm) ing structure, it is necessary to consider the continuity
Right line Left line Right line Left line of the soil under load as well as the nonlinear coordi-
nate deformation of the supporting structure-soil.
Condition 1 471.2 696.0 188.0 185.9
Condition 2 469.6 699.0 188.3 186.2
Condition 3 469.4 700.4 188.3 186.2 Declaration of Competing Interest
Condition 4 469.4 700.4 188.3 186.2
Condition 5 468.4 708.6 188.3 186.3 The authors declare that they have no known competing
Condition 6 468.3 708.6 188.3 186.3 financial interests or personal relationships that could have
Condition 7 463.1 710.0 188.2 186.4
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Table 8 Acknowledgements
Internal force increment ratio of tunnel segment.
Conditions Axial force increment Bending moment increment The corresponding author would like to acknowledge
ratio /% ratio /% the National Natural Science Foundation Project of China
Right line Left line Right line Left line (grant number: 51768040 and 51508256). The financial sup-
ports are gratefully acknowledged.
Condition 2 0.34 0.43 0.16 0.16
Condition 3 0.38 0.63 0.16 0.16
Condition 4 0.38 0.63 0.16 0.16 Declaration of Competing Interest
Condition 5 0.59 1.78 0.16 0.22
Condition 6 0.62 1.78 0.16 0.22 We declare that the work described was original
Condition 7 1.72 1.97 0.11 0.27
research that has not been published previously, and not

Please cite this article as: S. Ye, Z. Zhao and D. Wang, Deformation analysis and safety assessment of existing metro tunnels affected by excavation of a
foundation pit, Underground Space, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2020.06.002
 S. Ye et al. / Underground Space xxx (xxxx) xxx
under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or
in part. No conflict of interest exits in the submission of
this manuscript, and manuscript is approved by all authors
for publication.
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