Random analysis method for nonlinear interaction between shield tunnel and spatially variable soil

The spatial variability of soil properties is likely to have a remarkable influence on the longitudinal responses of shield tunnels. This paper proposes a one-dimensional random analysis method (RAM) for the interaction between the shield tunnel with circumferential joints and the spatially variable soil with nonlinear elastoplastic behaviors. A deterministic short beam-spring model with longitudinal variation in the initial subgrade reaction coefficient and the ultimate soil resistance is developed and solved by the finite difference method. The random field of the soil properties discretized by the Karhunen-Loeve expansion method is used to establish the RAM. A hypothetical example is further presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method. The results imply that the soil nonlinearity may lead to a negative effect on the reliability control of the tunnel structure and should be considered to obtain more reasonable probabilistic evaluations of the tunnel deformations. The increasing joint rotational stiffness or shearing stiffness results in the lower variabilities of the maximum tunnel settlement, and reduces the probabilities of the maximum joint opening or joint dislocation exceeding the allowable value, respectively.