Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 28 (2012) 1017

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Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology

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Design of sequential excavation tunneling in weak rocks through ndings

obtained from displacements based back analysis
Mostafa Sharifzadeh a,, Rahman Daraei b, Mohsen Shari Broojerdi a
a
b

Department of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Department of Mining Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 4 December 2010
Received in revised form 17 May 2011
Accepted 16 August 2011
Available online 7 October 2011
Keywords:
Sequential Excavation Method (SEM)
Monitoring
Finite difference method
Weak rock
Back analysis
Shibli tunnel

a b s t r a c t
Design of Sequential Excavation Method (SEM) and its support system in weathered and incompetent
rocks is a primary challenge in tunneling. The Shibli tunnels that are being constructed within Zanjan
Tabriz freeway are located 25 km away from Tabriz with total length of 4533 m (north tunnel:
2244 m, south tunnel: 2289 m), 14 m width, and 11 m height. Three collapses that occurred at initial
800 m length of southern tunnel necessitated modication of either or both of the support system or
excavation sequences. In this study, modication of the excavation sequences was merely taken into consideration for the high costs required to change the support system. Initially, the method of top heading
and benching was proposed based on size of tunnels span and the ratio of Uniaxial Compressive Strength
(UCS) to vertical in situ stress. Subsequently the excavation sequences were examined and designed precisely. Application of back analysis technique on three aforementioned collapsed zones led to identication of the most probable rock mass shear strength parameters. Results obtained from this analysis
showed that in crown part of collapsed zones the displacement values had laid in an interval between
70 and 75 mm. Therefore, based on the weakest strength parameters obtained from the back analysis,
three different sequences of excavation were proposed and sent to a nite difference numerical modeling
which followed by an efcient SEM design with safety factor of 2 that reduced the displacements after
excavation of top heading and whole tunnel section in the collapsed zones to less than 45 mm and
70 mm respectively. Thereafter, the modied SEM design has been applied successfully without occurrence of further collapses throughout excavation of the remained length of Shibli tunnels.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The excavation method and sequencing schemes have a great
inuence on deformation of rocks where a tunnel is constructed
using Sequential Excavation Method (SEM). The ultimate selection
of excavation and sequencing schemes for a specic condition
should be typically based on complicated interactions occurring
between several factors such as safety, cost and schedule considerations (Hoek, 2001). The second part of ZanjanTabriz freeway
connects the city of Tabriz to Bostanabad rural area (Fig. 1). The
twin tunnels of Shibli are being constructed within this freeway
to remove heavy trafc and decrease driving casualties. Their sections are both horse shoe shaped with 14 m width and 11 m
height. The distance between axes of two adjacent tunnels is about
60 m. General geology of the project region is strongly inuenced
by two orogenic phases that have led to heavily crushed rock mass
in the area. Three collapses in initial 800 m length of southern tunnel are evidences of weakness in the host rock. In order to prevent
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: most.sharif@gmail.com (M. Sharifzadeh).
0886-7798/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tust.2011.08.003

further collapses, two different alternatives (strategies) could be

taken into consideration; (i) modication of the support system
and (ii) modication of the excavation sequences. Of course, the
second strategy was suggested promptly due to costly nature of
support system improvement. In this paper, three SEM schemes
are investigated on the basis of geological conditions and ndings
obtained from displacement back analysis of the collapsed zones.
2. Geological and geotechnical investigation
The studied region in which the tunnels are being constructed is
located in the outermost west-northern part of central Iran geological formation. The Shibli tunnels host rocks are mostly composed
of gray to black shale, marl and calcareous shale that are heavily
crushed by two orogenic phases. According to the engineering geological data and rating scores inferred from surface and underground mapping, the host rocks were divided into three: A, B and
C blocks at construction stage (Fig. 2). Block A, assigned to the most
competent part of the host rock containing calcareous and sandy
shale. Block B, which belongs to the fair class of RMR index, consists of black to gray shale and crushed limestone. Lastly, the

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M. Sharifzadeh et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 28 (2012) 1017

Fig. 1. (a) Location of Shibli twin tunnels in Iran map and (b) the picture of Shibli twin tunnels site.

Fig. 2. (a) Longitudinal section of Shibli tunnel and (b) geological map of Shibli tunnel.

crushed black shale and marl constitute the host rocks of block C
(Daraei, 2010). Block C forms the most incompetent rocks that
cause the most complicated situation especially where there is
combination of high water inows and severely tectonized zones.
The rock mass quality was scored using rock mass classication
systems such as RMR, Q and GSI. Because it has been argued that
application of RMR is not so appropriate for incompetent combinations of the ground i.e. RMR < (3040) (Hoek, 2006), GSI was used
instead to score the weak parts of tunnels. Detailed information of
rock mass rating is demonstrated in Table 1. In addition, Table 2
illustrates the characteristics of four predominant joint sets
inferred from surface mapping and subsurface investigation. Properties of intact rock given in Table 3 were determined by laboratory

Table 1
Geological blocks scored by engineering classication systems along Shibli tunnel
route.
Rating

Block
A

RMR
Q
GSI

4952
1.21.3
4447

4346
0.750.8
3841

3842
0.60.65
3337

tests instead of overpriced and time consuming in situ tests. Cohesive strength, friction angle and deformation modulus of the intact

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M. Sharifzadeh et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 28 (2012) 1017

Table 2
Joint set characterization along the route of Shibli tunnel.
Joint set

Dip/dip direction

Persistence (m)

Aperture (mm)

Roughness

Inlling (gouge)

Weathering

I
II
III
IV

65/300
68/067
14/032
67/270

13
310
310
13

0.11.0
15
0.11.0
15

Smooth
Smooth
Smooth
Slickensided

Soft
Soft
Soft
Soft

Moderately weathered
Moderately weathered
Moderately weathered
Highly weathered

lling
lling
lling
lling

<5 mm
<5 mm
<5 mm
<5 mm

Table 3
Intact rock characteristics and eld properties.
Block

Rating

A
B
C

UCS (MPa)

Max. overburden (m)

Poissons ratio

Density (kg/m3)

Vertical stress (MPa)

USC/sv

4548
4045
3540

115
179
173

0.22
0.25
0.27

2350
2320
2200

2.7
4.15
3.8

17.22
10.36
9.86

rock were estimated based on the empirical equations of RMR and

GSI (suggested by Seram and Pereira (1983) and Bieniawski
(1989)) and then recalculated by RocLab software which has been
coded based on HoekBrown criterion (Rocscience Inc., 2002).
Therefore, tunnels were designed based on a range of values of rock
mass properties instead of just a unique value (Table 4).

chainage 27 + 340 of the southern tunnel where eventually the

third collapse occurred. In order to use the critical displacements,
data recorded in this station was used for modication of SEM
design. According to the monitoring data in this station, relative
displacements were recorded prior to the third collapse to be
71 mm for distances between left wall to right wall (LR), 34 mm
for crown to left wall (CL) and 36 mm for crown to right wall
(CR) (Fig. 5).

3. Shibli tunnels SEM design and displacement monitoring

Despite preliminary site investigations to characterize rock
mass quality, it is not often possible to obtain a complete geomechanical characterization of the ground along the tunnel route.
Therefore, it is essential to monitor the ground deformation during
tunneling not only to ensure the safety of construction but also to
provide important information for the back analysis. Monitoring of
inward tunnel deformation is believed to be a principal means for
safe and high quality design of support system and excavation
method (Kavvadas, 2003).
Prior to Shibli tunnel instabilities, southern and northern tunnels were being constructed according to a preliminary SEM design
with top heading and benching in eight stages as shown in Fig. 3.
The gure shows that top heading part was being excavated in
two successive stages. Once the rst stage was nished, a platform
would remain that should be removed in the second stage. The
preliminary SEM design was modeled in the rst collapsed section
(in chainage 27 + 340 as shown in Fig. 4) to determine effective
loads on support system. The temporary support system consists
of steel rib, shotcrete and rock bolt. The steel rib (IPE180@0.5)
embedded in 25 cm shotcrete were modeled together using Beam
element and rock bolt was simulated as Cable element. Numerical
modeling results showed that southern tunnel had reached and
even exceeded the critical safety factor after both stages of top
heading excavations were completed. Acting forces on support system at southern tunnel prior to instabilities are shown in Table 5.
Back analysis of monitored deformation in southern tunnel was
performed when three collapses veried its instability. Therefore,
convergence pins and extensometers were installed in 32 stations
of 530 m interval range. The displacements recorded by the monitoring instruments veried that the most unstable station was in
Table 4
Geotechnical properties of rock mass along the route of Shibli tunnel.
Block

A
B
C

Rating
Cohesion (kPa)

Friction angle ()

Deformation modulus (MPa)

328
357
340

36
34
33

2380
2049
1947

4. Back analysis of critical sections in southern tunnel

Nowadays, back analysis techniques are frequently used in
geotechnical engineering problems as a practical tool to determine
unknown parameters of rock mass, geometric systems and preliminary boundary conditions with the aid of displacement, stress
and strain monitoring during excavation or construction of a structure. Displacement-based back analysis techniques have spawned a
number of challenging topics since 1970s in which enormous studies have resulted in several models of displacement based back analysis (see e.g. Sakurai and Takeuchi, 1983; Gioda and Locatelli, 1999;
Swoboda et al., 1999; Feng et al., 2004; Zhang et al., 2006; Ghorbani
and Sharifzadeh, 2009). Basically, back analysis solutions can be
divided into two inverse and direct categories. In the inverse
approach, mathematical formulation of the normal analysis is
exactly inversed. In this approach, the number of measured data
should be more than the number of unknown data in order to use
optimization techniques for regressive calculation of unknowns.
The main advantage of inverse approach is its lack of need to repetition that appropriately decreases the time needed for calculations.
But the chief disadvantage of this category is in its failure to nd a
stable numerical solution for geotechnical problems which typically
have measured values with too wide range of data (Sakurai et al.,
2003). Generally, there are three algorithms for direct approach of
back analysis. These algorithms are: single variable techniques, multiple variable techniques and periodic single variable techniques
(Ghorbani and Sharifzadeh, 2009; Jeon and Yang, 2004). In order to
carry out successfully back analysis calculation, it is necessary to
choose: (i) a mathematical model that is able to determine the stress
and strain around the tunnel; (ii) an efcient algorithm that reduces
the error between the calculation results and the observed in situ
measurements (Oreste, 2005).
In Shibli tunnel, the direct approach of displacement-based
back analysis was used to grasp an optimized denition of rock
mass parameters. The applied method is based on optimization
of mechanical properties of rock mass by trial and error. The error
function that is dened by Eq. (1) was utilized to minimize the difference between measured and calculated displacements through
numerical modeling.

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6.40 m

M. Sharifzadeh et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 28 (2012) 1017

Fig. 3. Preliminary excavation pattern of Shibli tunnel.

H = 36 m

e
urfac

nd S

Start :
Km 26+721

Grou

urfac

nd S

Grou

D = 16 m
H = 36 m

16 m

D=

Face

181 m
Collapse
Km 27+340

Headind
Benching

(a)

(b)

Fig. 4. Schematic view of collapse at chainage 27 + 340 of southern tunnel: (a) Cross section and (b) longitudinal section.

Table 5
Preliminary excavation pattern and related measurements of displacement, acting forces, and safety factor.
Excavation sequences of heading

Crown displacement (mm)

Right wall displacement (mm)

Left wall displacement (mm)

N (kN)

M (kN m)

V (kN)

SF

I
II

67
76

34
38

67
39

4297
4528

22.44
98.2

15.4
27.3

1.87
1

N: Axial force, M: Bending moment, V: Shear force, SF: Safety factor.

(a)

Warning

(b)

80

70

Warning

60

50

40
L-R
C-L
C-R

30
20

Displacement (mm)

70

Displacement (mm)

Warning
80

60

Warning

50
40
30
20
10

10
0
4

12

16

20

0
10/11/2007

24

Distance from face (m)

10/19/2007

10/27/2007

Time (day)

Fig. 5. Relative displacement of crown and walls of Shibli tunnel at chainage 27 + 340: (a) versus time and (b) versus distance to tunnel face.

s

2
1 Xn um
i p  ui
ep
i1
n
ui

In this equation n is the number of measurement points and (i = 1,

2, . . . , n) and uim are the measured and calculated displacements
respectively which are calculated for corresponding points through
numerical analysis. The value of (p) depends on summed up
unknown parameters of the model in P vector. As the equation

shows, this study employs a normalized error function which helps

to decrease the effect of measurement errors such as installation,
reading and recording errors and therefore precludes misleading
information.
In order to perform back analysis, deformation modulus and
shear strength parameters (c and u), the most important parameters
of the collapsed area at Shibli tunnel, were considered to employ in
the periodic single variable method. In this method, two of the three
parameters were assumed as a constant value and other parameter

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M. Sharifzadeh et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 28 (2012) 1017

Table 6
Estimated rock mass characteristics from displacement based back analysis.
Chainage of station monitoring

Cohesion (kPa)

Deformation modulus (GPa)

Friction angle ()

Back analysis

Conne design

Back analysis

Conne design

Back analysis

Conne design

27 + 340

204 0.5

202205

1.36 0.007

1.31.42

24 0.5

2326

Table 7
Measured and calculated displacements at chainage 27 + 340.
Chainage of monitoring station

27 + 340 (south tunnel)

Calculated values (mm)

Measured values (mm)

LR

CL

CR

LR

CL

CR

75

37

39

71

34

36

-02

(10 )

Displacement (m)

-2.000
-3.000
-4.000
-5.000
-6.000
-7.000
35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75
-02
(10 )
Step

(a)

(b)
-02

(10 )

-02

(10 )

3.000

Displacement (m)

Displacement (m)

-3.500
-3.550
-3.600
-3.650
-3.700
-3.750

2.500
2.000
1.500
1.000
0.500

-3.800
35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75
-02
(10 )
Step

(c)

35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75

Step

-02

(10 )

(d)

Fig. 6. (a) Numerical modeling of Shibli tunnel after top heading excavation. (b) Crown. (c) Right wall. (d) Left wall displacements analyzed by FDM.

was changed in an acceptable range in the model. At the end of each

calculation, the difference between determined displacements and
observed displacements was computed by the dened error function in Eq. (1). This procedure was repeated for the every possible
combination of the parameters and nally, that set of parameters
that resulted in minimum error was selected as the representative
parameters of the rock mass.
After implementation of back analysis method and determination of the most probable strength parameters of the rock mass
(Table 6), the new displacement values that resulted from back

analysis calculations, are shown in Table 7 to be compared with

the measured values. Fig. 6 demonstrates the numerical modeling
of Shibli tunnel and balanced displacements on roof, right wall and
left wall at chainage 27 + 340.

5. Determination of excavation method and sequences

Generally, a simple rule does not exist to facilitate decision making about optimal selection of excavation method. This decision is

15

M. Sharifzadeh et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 28 (2012) 1017

20
Block C

18

Block A

ift

-dr

16

Tunnel span (m)

Block B

e
Sid

14

gm

ia

12

d
ral

nt

Ce

10

ing

IV V

Side-drift
I

II

III

II IV

CD method

ph

III

or

ch
en
&b e
g
c
din fa
ea full

II
III

II

ra
ph

To

II

Full face

0
10 -2

10 -1

10 0

10 +1

10 +2

10 +3

Strength/Stress ratio
Fig. 7. Empirical determination of excavation sequences based on three parameters
of span size, unconned compressive strength (UCS) and vertical stress on tunnel.

5.70 m

5.30 m

mainly inuenced by engineering experiences rather than theoretical calculations (Hoek, 2001). However, some inuencing factors
on selection of excavation method can be mentioned as rock mass
properties including intact rock and joint (discontinuity) characteristics, shape and size of tunnel section, underground hydrology,
in situ and induced stresses, regional geology, structural geology
and weak zone characteristics (Yu and Chern, 2007). Yu and Chern
(2007), have also proposed a diagram that can be used as a basis for
selection of excavation method (Fig. 7). As the diagram illustrated
in Fig. 7 shows, the excavation method can be determined according to the given span size and ratio of Uniaxial Compressive
Strength (UCS) to vertical in situ stress. For Shibli tunnel, after plotting the location of blocks A, B and C on the proposed diagram
(Fig. 7), the top heading and benching method proved to be the

most suitable excavation method for all blocks, and therefore the
preliminary excavation method remained unchanged. Therefore,
detailed sequences of excavation should have been evaluated at
the next stage.
Through application of back analysis technique on three collapsed zones the most probable rock mass strength parameters
(Table 6) at the instances of collapses occurrence were identied.
Results obtained from the back analysis showed that in the crown
part of the collapsed zones the displacement values lie between 70
and 75 mm. Taking into account the existing facilities and
resources on the project site such as excavation machinery, steel
frames, rolling system and also power and type of shotcreting
equipment (dry or wet), three different SEM designs according to
Fig. 8 were proposed. Height of top heading is mainly controlled
by two factors namely; boom height of excavation machinery
and stability of tunnel. The optimal top heading height (which satises both the least possibility of instability and most efciency of
machinery) was determined to be 5.30 m up to 5.70 m based on
the numerical modeling calculations and machinery examination.
In addition, multi face excavation method (Fig. 8b) with manual
excavation was proposed to tackle probable confrontation of extremely incompetent rock mass during tunneling advance. The FDM
simulation models of three different SEM schemes (Fig. 8) were
run in FLAC2D environment based on the most critical geotechnical
data obtained from displacement based back analysis within a
40  40 m net, characterized by 100  100 elements, 50 cm zone
length and perfect elasticplastic MohrCoulomb constitutive
model (Itasca Inc., 2002). It had been determined that displacements should be less than 45 mm and 70 mm after excavation of
top heading and whole tunnel section respectively. In addition,
bearing in mind that Shibli tunnels were being constructed in weak
rocks, the factor of safety had to be greater than 2 to compensate
the effects of underground hydrology and unexpected condition

Fig. 8. Proposed excavation sequences for modication of Shibli tunnel preliminary design.

Table 8
Analyzed measurements for comparing performances of three proposed excavation sequences shown in Fig. 8.
Excavation
method

Heading height
(m)

Sequences

5.30

I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII

I
II
III

5.70

I
II

Roof displacement
(mm)

Right wall displacement

(mm)

Left wall displacement

(mm)

N
(kN)

M
(kN m)

V
(kN)

SF

5.87
9.13
9.87
9.96
10.2
10.89
11.03

2.11
2.24
2.06
1.9
1.9
1.83
1.81

39
41
43
46
50
58
68

38
40
40
45
47
51
57

34
40
41
43
46
52
58

3815
3463
3782
3893
3924
4221
4283

20.42
32.12
34.15
36.2
37.01
40.5
41.6

46
90
>110

9
70
>80

10
22
>80

1821
1494
5069

18.23
94.51
158

33.4
52.4
54.5

4.39
2.9
<1

70
74

36
34

34
40

3914
4062

21.65
33.2

6.98
18.9

2.04
1.93

N: Axial force, M: Bending moment, V: Shear force, SF: Safety factor.

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M. Sharifzadeh et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 28 (2012) 1017

Fig. 9. Numerical modeling of excavation pattern A shown in Fig. 8 by FDM.

of excavation. Numerical modeling of three SEM designs showed

that the schemes B and C could not fulll the calculated critical displacement and safety factor. On the other hand, in order to keep on
operating with the existing excavation machinery, and not to
impose extra costs for acquisition of new machinery due to change
in excavation method, it was suggested to remove the platform and
excavate the top heading in only one stage (scheme A). Numerical
modeling and analysis of scheme A showed that the acting forces
on the support system would decrease considerably as compared
with the applied scheme prior to the collapses. Detailed data of displacement, acting forces on support systems and resulting safety
factor are presented individually in Table 8 for three proposed
schemes. Since the calculated displacement of crown part after
excavation of top heading was less than the acceptable value and
safety factor reached an amount more than threshold of 2, the
scheme A was accepted as a modication of previous SEM design.
Fig. 9 shows the SEM Scheme A, was simulated in FLAC2D. It

should be remembered that in numerical modeling of all three different schemes, the support system had remained constant and the
modeled support system was considered to be similar to the support system designed prior to the collapses.
6. Discussion
After taking on and executing the modied SEM design, monitoring of the displacements demonstrated its consistency with
the weak host rock and other conditions. Moreover, actual displacement amounts in collapsed zones (specically at chainage
27 + 340 of southern tunnel) closely followed the predicted
amounts calculated via the analysis. Fig. 10 shows the trend of displacement variations both over time (Fig. 10a) and distance from
face (Fig. 10b) at chainage 27 + 340 which had been continuously
measured until excavation of the southern tunnel nished. As
shown in Fig. 10, displacements on walls and roof increased when

M. Sharifzadeh et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 28 (2012) 1017

(a)

(b)

14

14
12

10
L

8
L-R
C-L
C-R

6
4
2

Displacement (mm)

12

Displacement (mm)

17

10
8
6
4
2

0
25

100

175

250

325

400

475

Distance from face (m)

Time (day)

Fig. 10. Monitored displacement after employing the excavation pattern (A) shown in Fig. 8: (a) Displacement versus time and (b) displacement versus distance to tunnel
face.

bench 1 and bench 2 were excavated. This behavior of the ground

is the response of tunnel excavation from the monitoring station.
Furthermore, ever since the excavation was started again in this
chainage with the modied SEM design, some higher nal displacements could be observed in the right wall. This extraordinary
behavior can be related to the occurrence of previous conical collapse at the right side of monitoring station.
7. Conclusions
Usually, tunneling in weak rocks comes encounter instabilities
and environmental problems. Therefore, monitoring ground deformations during tunneling can be the main tool for selection of suitable excavation methods and support systems to ensure safety and
high quality of construction. Occurrence of three instabilities in
Shibli southern tunnel necessitated the modication of either or
both of support system and excavation sequences. Modication of
the excavation sequence was taken in hand as change in support
system required high expenditures. For excavation method, top
heading and benching was proposed based on span size, vertical
in situ stress and Uniaxial Compressive Strength of the host rocks.
As Fig. 3 shows, top heading and benching method which this study
proved its soundness had been the applied excavation method
before instabilities occur and should have been remained
unchanged. Instead, excavation sequences had to be designed all
over again. Three SEM schemes (Fig. 8) were proposed that were
different in their excavation sequences and height of top heading
in order to take into account machinery size and stability issues
simultaneously. Numerical analysis of the proposed SEM schemes
demonstrated that proper sequencing is one of the most important
factors in design of SEM tunneling. For instance even with a unique
excavation method, inappropriate sequencing can lead to occurrence of instability and failure. In this study, based on displacement
monitoring data and experimental observations, modication of
excavation sequences by reducing height of top heading part from
6.406.70 to 5.305.80 implemented and resulted in a successful
SEM design that continued over the total 3500 m length of Shibli
tunnels without occurrence of any further instability.

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