Comparison of Mohr-Coulomb and Hardening Soil Models' Numerical Estimation of Ground Surface Settlement Caused by Tunneling.

Due to in depth tunnel excavation, tensions in the soil are eased, causing elastic and plastic deformations in the area of tunnel and leading to surface settlement at the ground level. Currently, along with the use of numerical methods in analysis and design of engineering projects, it is known that this method has used extensively in the analysis of problems related to geotechnical engineering and tunneling. Selection of the appropriate parameters and soil model can have a significant impact on the results of numerical analysis. The Mohr-Coulomb elastic-plastic model (MC) is one of the most widely used models, used in cases evaluating the hardness of materials, independent of the surface tension. If the Mohr-Coulomb used for numerical modeling of tunnel where in-depth tunneling excavation is involved and where an increase in maximum ground surface settlement and decrease in the reliability of stability of tunnels can be seen, which may not be appropriate in some conditions. The more appropriate model should be used to solve this problem, one that can model the hardness of materials based on changes in the level of stress. In this study, the maximum ground surface settlement due to tunnel excavation, obtained from Mohr- Coulomb model was compared with those of Hardening Soil (HS) Model results. Therefore, the ground surface settlement because of an assumption tunnel in different depths was analyzed with Mohr-Coulomb and Hardening Soil models by using PLAXIS 2D. As a result of the analyzes, it is observed that as the depth of the tunnel increases, the settlements on the ground surface decrease according to Mohr-Coulomb and approach the real values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]