Analytical solution for wave-induced hydraulic response on subsea shield tunnel

Abstract Frequent water level fluctuation such as wave is one of the significant differences that distinguish subsea tunnels from land tunnels. For a better understanding of the influence of the dynamic wave loading, this study develops a new set of analytical solutions for the wave-induced hydraulic response on the subsea shield tunnels. The proposed analytical solutions are verified with numerical simulation, and a good agreement is observed between the hydraulic regimes obtained from both methods. A detailed parametric analysis is presented about the effect of wave characteristics, seabed properties and tunnel parameters on the hydraulic response, including the water pressure distribution around the tunnel, water inflow, seabed liquefaction and the hydrodynamic forces acting on the tunnel. It reveals that soil permeability is the most significant factor in affecting the wave-induced hydraulic response. Besides, the embedded shield tunnel acts as an obstruction to the water pressure propagation and a drain in the seabed at the same time. The former effect leads to the asymmetric distribution of the maximum water pressure around the tunnel, and the latter one dissipates the pore water pressure, but only in quite adjacent areas.