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<p>This paper stems from professional projects carried out by the author, which involved the repair and structural strengthening of several tunnels affected by progressive failure mechanisms. The focus is on a tunnel of the Apulian Aqueduct (Italy), one of the greatest public works ever constructed by humanity. The tunnel crosses a swelling clay that expanded against the brickwork lining and led a 31-m-long segment of the tunnel on the verge of collapse. The damage consisted of the disintegration of the inverted arch and the delamination of a 150-mm-thick masonry layer from the base of the two abutments to the crown of the upper arch. The author determined the soil&#xa0;pressures&#xa0;acting on the tunnel lining that were required to produce the observed damage. Solving this inverse problem yielded the pressures induced by swelling, an advance in knowledge given that this phenomenon is difficult to model and still debated. The author also solved the same inverse problem for the adjacent segments of tunnel, which are made of stonework and have never suffered from any damage. The pressure level necessary to damage these segments was found to be 11% higher than that for the brickwork segment. Thus, the asymptotic value of the swelling pressures at infinite time is less than 11% higher than the pressures that acted on the brickwork segment. This finding represents another advance in knowledge. For the first time, the&#xa0;swelling pressure on a tunnel and its upper bound have been measured&#xa0;in-situ on an actual structure.</p>

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Analytical determination of the pressure exerted by a swelling clay soil on a tunnel

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年1月8日

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  • Paolo Foraboschi

摘要

This paper stems from professional projects carried out by the author, which involved the repair and structural strengthening of several tunnels affected by progressive failure mechanisms. The focus is on a tunnel of the Apulian Aqueduct (Italy), one of the greatest public works ever constructed by humanity. The tunnel crosses a swelling clay that expanded against the brickwork lining and led a 31-m-long segment of the tunnel on the verge of collapse. The damage consisted of the disintegration of the inverted arch and the delamination of a 150-mm-thick masonry layer from the base of the two abutments to the crown of the upper arch. The author determined the soil pressures acting on the tunnel lining that were required to produce the observed damage. Solving this inverse problem yielded the pressures induced by swelling, an advance in knowledge given that this phenomenon is difficult to model and still debated. The author also solved the same inverse problem for the adjacent segments of tunnel, which are made of stonework and have never suffered from any damage. The pressure level necessary to damage these segments was found to be 11% higher than that for the brickwork segment. Thus, the asymptotic value of the swelling pressures at infinite time is less than 11% higher than the pressures that acted on the brickwork segment. This finding represents another advance in knowledge. For the first time, the swelling pressure on a tunnel and its upper bound have been measured in-situ on an actual structure.