JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE UNDERGROUND EXPLORATION VOL. 3 NO.

1 (2023) 16-21

© Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia Publisher’s Office

Journal of
J-SUE Sustainable
Underground
http://publisher.uthm.edu.my/ojs/index.php/j-sue Exploration
e-ISSN : 2821-2851

Numerical Modelling of Tunnel-Ground Interaction with

Building Existence
Mohamad Naim bin Mohd Shakir1, Siti Norafida binti Jusoh1*
1
Faculty of Civil Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA

*Corresponding Author

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30880/jsue.2023.03.01.003
Received 29 December 2022; Accepted 4 January 2023; Available online 31 July 2023

Abstract: Tunnel is complex and risky construction. When excavation of tunnel take place, the original ground
equilibrium will affected thus lead to the stress redistribution and ground movement. Tunnel construction in the
urban city is in concerned as tunnel will passes under a lot of existing building. Therefore, in this study, a series of
simulation of tunnel construction with and without external building was conducted. Numerical model by means
ABAQUS Software was conducted based on tunnel-soil-load model was developed. From the result, it can be
concluded that soil stress redistributed when excavation of soil occurs especially near to the tunnel periphery. The
ground settlement trough depicts a significant maximum settlement for the model with high external load and
producing flat u-shape in the middle of settlement trough pattern.

Keywords: Tunnel excavation, tunnel mining, ground movement

1. Introduction
In recent years, there has been a rapid population growth in urban areas, leading to effective transportation. However,
limited surface area makes underground transportation become an alternative. Therefore, underground tunnels are
constructed to support the demand of transportation. In many cities, the amount of tunnel construction is increasing for
many purposes such as providing underground roadways and effective utilities [1].
To build a tunnel, several methods are available including the mechanized tunnel method (using a tunnel boring
machine), cut and cover method, clay kicking method, shaft method, pipe jacking method, box jacking method, and
underwater tunnels. However, the tunnel excavation will affect the surrounding environment, especially the building. The
ground movement induced by tunnel construction will give a bad effect on infrastructure and building above the ground
[2]. As the tunnel is a complex and risky construction, concerns about the stability of nearby buildings and the ground
need to be checked. Many researchers have carried out investigations into the matter. For example, Franzius et al. [3]
study the damage of the building when tunnel construction happens becomes the major concern in the planning and
construction of the tunnel. Franza et al. [4] conducted investigation on the effect of the excavations on buildings with
shallow foundation or pile. Based on one research conducted by Mayoral and Mosqueda [5], it is stated that underground
facilities, such as tunnels construction can result in the seismic vibration to the structures located in urban areas, thus the
midrise buildings significantly affected. Settlement might occur. Shahin et al. [6] presented their findings on the effect
of tunneling on the existing structures. They concluded that the structures was affected mainly depending on the distance
between the tunnel and the foundation.The tunnel-building interaction is considered based on the distance of the building
and the axis line of the tunnel. When the distance of the building and the axis line of the tunnel increase, the settlement
will decrease. The maximum settlement always occurs in the middle of tunnel [7]. This can be illustrated in Fig. 1.

*Corresponding author: snorafida@utm.my 16

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Shakir et al., Journal of Sustainable Underground Exploration Vol. 3 No. 1 (2023) 16-21

Fig. 1 - Building and tunnel [7]

The focus of this research is to investigate the ground behavior induced by the ground excavation for tunnel
in with and without the external building structure (i.e., with load and no-load condition).

2. Numerical Model Development: Tunnel-Soil-Building Development

Three different models were developed for this study, one is a greenfield model, the excavation in the soil
block without any external load, other two model is the similar model but with the existence of external loads of
10 kN and 1000 kN to imitating the load of building. The building is located at the starting part of tunnel, i.e., the
first to third ring of tunnel excavation and distributed evenly from the center crown of tunnel. In this process of
developing the model, there were four important parts in the model development, explained in section 2.1 to 2.4.

2.1 Geometry and Properties

The soil dimensions are 63 m length with 50 m width and 46 m height. The tunnel is 6.35 m in diameter with
1.4 m width and 0.275 m thickness. The soil property was followed Table 1. The property of the tunnel was used
with the Young Modulus, EL of 33GPa and the Poisson’s ratio of 0.2.

Table 1 - Details of the soil properties [8]

Soil Soil type Young Bulk Poison’s Angle of Cohesion, c
layer Modulus, Es density,  ratio, vs friction,  ( o ) (kPa)
(kPa) (kN/m3)
L1 Fill 7000 19 0.333 30 0.3
L2 Estuarine 3000 15 0.35 20 0.3
L3 Fluvial clay 3000 19 0.35 22 0.3
L4 Fluvial sand 7000 20 0.32 32 0.3
L5 Bukit Timah granite 59200 20 0.3333 30 2
G4 (VI)
L6 Bukit Timah granite 86400 20 0.3 35 2
G4 (V)
L7 Bukit Timah granite 3500000 25 0.32 35 400
G2 (III)

The tunnel was located at the center of the soil at a depth of 23 m. The tunnel was located exactly between
two layers that were layer 4 and layer 5. The model of soil block with the proposed excavation tunnel diameter is
presented in Fig. 2.

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Fig. 2 - 3D model of the soil tunnel with the proposed tunnel diameter in ABAQUS software

2.2 Boundary Conditions and Load Design

The boundary size of model was carefully considered to ensure it will not affect the results at the end of
modelling. The boundary condition and load were applied to imitate the field case study condition. The gravity
assigned in this model in the vertical axis of model. The boundary for the model was assigned at the bottom (i.e.,
fixed in all movements) and sides of the ground model (i.e., which allows to move in z-axis only).
In this model, a building load was also applied to represent urban conditions. The pressure load model was
applied on the ground surface at the beginning of tunnel construction with the magnitude of 10kN/m2 and
1000kN/m2.

2.3 Meshing
The soil and the tunnel were meshed sufficiently to allow for numerical modelling analyses. This process is
very important in ABAQUS to allow for the analyses. The meshing used was seed globally with ratio of 1.3 for
the soil block model and 0.9 for tunnel model. The meshing of the soil is presented in Fig. 3 (a) and the meshing
of tunnel is presented in Figure 3 (b).

(a) (b)
Fig. 1 - Meshing of : (a) soil block model and (b) tunnel model

2.4 Steps
The model had 4 steps which start with the geostatic that apply the properties for the soil. In geostatic
condition, stress layer of soil was calculated and assigned as prescribed bearing capacity. To simplify the
modelling, the pore pressure and saturation were applied was zero, i.e., considering the ground water table is far
below the modelling area and model the ground as the undrained condition. The void ratio is adopted as 1 to
ensure convergence in modelling.
The second step then is the activation of load above the surface of soil, i.e., the building. Then, the third step
is excavating the soil follow the size of proposed build of tunnel, 6.35 m in diameter. Due to complex interaction
model and limited of computer capacity, the modelling only considers excavation of tunnel without installation
of tunnel lining for model convergence.

3. Result and Discussion

The results from the modelling were compared between the tunnel excavation in the greenfield condition and
the tunnel excavation with the existence of building. In order to do so, a series of node path calling was set first
in the ABAQUS software to retrieve the results. Fig. 4 presents the stress reaction due to excavation of soil for
tunneling with 3 different paths for calling the results of simulations. Node 1 is path created at the ground surface

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Shakir et al., Journal of Sustainable Underground Exploration Vol. 3 No. 1 (2023) 16-21

along the x-axis, while Node 2 is comparison path to see the ground distribution parallel to the excavation depth.
Node 3 presents the path taken to see the behavior of ground in the longitudinal section (along the excavation of
tunnel alignment).

Node 3 longitudinal path

Node 1 transverse path

Node 2 mid transverse path

Fig. 2 - Stress reaction due to mining and path of the node series taken to retrieve the results

3.1 Stress Redistribution Due to Soil Mining for Tunneling

After excavation of soil for tunnelling, ground lost it original equilibrium and stress redistribution occurs to
find for new stability. Fig.4 and 5 present the stress behavior induced by the excavation activity. From Fig. 4, one
can see the stress contour of the stress redistribution due to predefined soil bearing capacity and the redistribution
effects due to the soil mining. One can see the behavior of ground is almost symmetrically for left and right sides.
Therefore, only half of the behavior of the model presented discusses the stress behavior in Fig. 5.
Fig. 5 shows the result of the stress at the mid depth of soil mining. From the edge of soil block, stress starts
at 2 MN/m2 and increases slowly towards the tunnel position, hitting the high peaks in the range of 2.5 to 3 MN/m2
then suddenly decreases when it is approaching the diameter of tunnel soil excavation area. The higher the external
load applied; the higher stress induces proportionally.

3500000
3000000
2500000
Stress (N/m2)

2000000
1500000
1000000 no load
load 1000kN
500000
load 10kN
0
0.00
1.29
2.58
3.87
5.16
6.45
7.74
9.03

29.67
10.32
11.61
12.90
14.19
15.48
16.77
18.06
19.35
20.64
21.93
23.22
24.51
26.01
27.68

Distance (m)
Fig. 5 - The stress induced due to ground excavation

3.2 Tunnel Induced Ground Movement

The mining activity induced ground particle movement until it is supported by the tunnel lining. Hence, the
maximum ground settlement can be depicted in both transverse and longitudinal axis of ground surface. Fig. 6
presents the ground movement in the transverse direction. For greenfield condition, a bell shape transverse
settlement plotted which is similar to the Gaussian Distribution curve. In addition, small loads did not capture any
significant load effect and plotted like the greenfield condition. In opposite, the 1000 kN load anticipating the
width of building model and led to a flat u-shape in the maximum settlement reading.

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5
0
-5
Displacement (mm)

-10
-15
-20
-25
-30 load 10kN
-35
no load
-40
-45
-50
Distance (m)
Fig. 6 - Ground settlement in the transverse axis direction

5
0
-5
Displacement (mm)

-10 Tunnel advancement 

-15
-20
-25
-30 no load
-35
-40 load 10kN
-45 load 1000kN
-50
Distance (m)

Fig. 7 - Ground settlement in the transverse axis direction

Next, Fig. 7 shows the displacement of the soil in a longitudinal direction. With the tunnel advancement, in
the greenfield condition (without load) and 10 kN load, similar surface settlement depicted starts with 32 mm
maximum settlement at the tunnel starts point. In opposite, with external load of 1000 kN, the settlement is
significant as the building lies at the beginning of tunnel part, it then reduces towards then end of the tunnel
advancement.

4. Conclusion
To understand the ground reaction after tunnel mining with and without external loading at the ground
surface, a series of simulation was conducted here in. From the result, it can be concluded that:
 The soil mining or ground excavation led to soil stress redistribution as the ground look for new
equilibrium. When checked for the tunnel depth level, the stress nearby the tunnel diameter was affected
with increment and decrement of stress near to tunnel periphery.
 The tunnel excavation led to ground movement and produced maximum settlement near the tunnel
position. For greenfield condition and small external load, the settlement depicted a bell shape which
similar to the Gaussian Distribution curve. However, for the simulation with the high external load,
significant flat maximum surface settlement can be seen at the tunnel position following the width of the
building.

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Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thanks the financial support from UTM Encouragement Research Grant (UTM
ER), Vote Q. J130000.2651.17J59.

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