The Mechanical Behaviour of Clay Shales and Implications on the Design of Tunnels

Summary  This paper is a contribution to the study of tunnelling in difficult conditions, with attention paid to large time-dependent deformations, which may develop either during construction, causing instabilities of the tunnel heading and of the face, or during the service life of the tunnel. Under these circumstances the construction costs may rise due to the delays in excavation time, the stabilisation and heavy support measures that need be adopted. Following a review of characterisation and modelling of time-dependent behaviour in rock, the mechanical behaviour of Clay Shales (CS), a structurally complex formation of the Apennines (Italy), is described. Then, the key factors involved in the selection of the constitutive model for CS are identified. Two constitutive models are selected and discussed and their specific material parameters determined. A case study of a large size tunnel is presented where numerical modelling by the finite difference method is carried out. The results of modelling are compared with the monitoring data in terms of radial convergence of the tunnel and extrusion of the tunnel face.