Improvement study of elastic rubber gasket for shield tunnel segment

ABSTRACT

In view of the current design idea of elastic rubber gasket of shield tunnel segment jointsbased on experience, a numerical simulation method is proposed.By adjusting the area and position of the circular hole,the reasonable deformation of gasket holes under compression,the stress concentration at weak parts,the amplitude and distribution of contact stress under the maximum opening amount,the pressure amplitude when the gasket is fully compressed into the groove and the compression deformation curveare analysed comprehensively, and finally three improved sections are obtained.The results show that both the composite section improved by section 1 and the single section improved by section 3 have good waterproof ability.However, considering the adverse factors, such as the quality difference of water swellable rubber due to water absorbent resin and other swellable materials in practical use, the decrease of elastic deformation property of base materials after swelling and the dissolution of swelling agents, the improved section 3 witha single type has a wider applicability.The originality of this paper lies in systematically discussing the improved schemes of elastic rubber gaskets by combining stress state and reasonable deformation.

KEYWORDS:

• Shield tunnel
• elastic rubber gasket
• waterproof performance
• section improvement
• numerical simulation

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11772230).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [11772230].

Notes on contributors

Zhiqiang Wang

Zhiqiang Wang is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Institute of Rail Transit, Tongji University, Shanghai, China. His current research interests include structural engineering, engineering mechanics, etc.

Zhenyu Lei

Zhenyu Lei is an engineering Ph.D., graduated from Southwest Jiaotong University, Sichuan, China. Her current research interests include underground space structure, tunnel engineering, etc.