A Scale Model Test on Dynamic Soil-Tunnel Interactions

Soil-structure interactions are important for the safety of the underground structures under earthquake loads. In this paper, model tests were conducted on 1/60 scaled model of the prototype Xi’an metro tunnel. The seismic response data including the acceleration, the displacement and the dynamic soil pressure between the tunnel and soil were measured by testing the scaled model on a shaking table. From the test result, it is concluded that 1) the effects of tunnel and soil interactions are important for the bulk dynamic responses; 2) the soil pressure and the acceleration changed with the seismic inputs. The soil pressure at the top of the tunnel increased while the pressure at the bottom decreased; 3) the acceleration of the tunnel is greater than the adjacent soils.