Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 64 (2013) 125–135

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Journal of Asian Earth Sciences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jseaes

Nonlinear dynamic failure process of tunnel-fault system in response

to strong seismic event
Zhihua Yang a, Hengxing Lan a,⇑, Yongshuang Zhang b, Xing Gao a, Langping Li a
a
State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100101, China
b
Institute of Geomechanics, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Strong earthquakes and faults have significant effect on the stability capability of underground tunnel
Received 17 May 2012 structures. This study used a 3-Dimensional Discrete Element model and the real records of ground
Received in revised form 6 December 2012 motion in the Wenchuan earthquake to investigate the dynamic response of tunnel-fault system. The
Accepted 12 December 2012
typical tunnel-fault system was composed of one planned railway tunnel and one seismically active fault.
Available online 25 December 2012
The discrete numerical model was prudentially calibrated by means of the comparison between the field
survey and numerical results of ground motion. It was then used to examine the detailed quantitative
Keywords:
information on the dynamic response characteristics of tunnel-fault system, including stress distribution,
Nonlinear dynamic failure process
Earthquake
strain, vibration velocity and tunnel failure process. The intensive tunnel-fault interaction during seismic
Dynamic response loading induces the dramatic stress redistribution and stress concentration in the intersection of tunnel
Tunnel-fault system and fault. The tunnel-fault system behavior is characterized by the complicated nonlinear dynamic fail-
3DEC ure process in response to a real strong seismic event. It can be qualitatively divided into 5 main stages in
terms of its stress, strain and rupturing behaviors: (1) strain localization, (2) rupture initiation, (3) rup-
ture acceleration, (4) spontaneous rupture growth and (5) stabilization. This study provides the insight
into the further stability estimation of underground tunnel structures under the combined effect of
strong earthquakes and faults.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction tremendous potential threat to the stability capability of under-

The seismic behavior of underground structures (e.g., railway
tunnels, road tunnels) differs from that of ground structures.
Generally, underground structures usually suffer less damage com-
pared with ground structures during a seismic event (Hashash
et al., 2001; Mirko et al., 2011). However, under the strong earth-
quakes the damage to the underground tunnel structures is still
remarkable. Numerous case studies have suggested such phenom-
ena such as the Mw7.9 (USGS) Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, in
Sichuan province, in China (Wang et al., 2009), the Hanshin
earthquake in 1995 (Samata et al., 1997), the Chi-Chi earthquake
in 1999 (Wang et al., 2001) and the Kocaeli earthquake in 1999
(Hashash et al., 2001). In such strong seismic events, the disconti-
nuities (e.g., faults, joints and cracks) in rock masses play an impor-
tant role in increasing its frictional instability and inducing
⇑ Corresponding author. Address: State Key Laboratory of Resources and
Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural
Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11A Datun Road, Chaoyang
District, Beijing 100101, China. Tel.: +86 10 6488 8783.
E-mail addresses: lanhx@igsnrr.ac.cn, yangzh@lreis.ac.cn (H. Lan).
ground tunnel structures (Hashash et al., 2001).
The seismic response of tunnel structures (e.g., highway tun-
nels, immersed tunnels) has been investigated by many researches
using various methods (theoretical analysis, numerical simulation,
physical model tests, et al.) (e.g., Mirko et al., 2011; Anastasopoulos
et al., 2007, 2008; Genis, 2010; Sevim, 2011; Ichimura and Hori,
2009; Kirzhner and Rosenhouse, 2000; Kontoe et al., 2008; Pakbaz
and Yareevand, 2005; Chen et al., 2010; Sun et al., 2011). The study
results show that strong earthquakes have severe effect on the sta-
bility capability of tunnel structures. The underground tunnel
structures shall become more vulnerable to strong earthquakes if
affected by faults (Hashash et al., 2001; Pakbaz and Yareevand,
2005). The stability of tunnel will be reduced dramatically (Jeon
et al., 2004; Anastasopoulos and Gazetas, 2010).
While many researchers have mainly addressed the eventual
stability of tunnel structures, the concerns are increasing on the
complicated failure process of tunnel structures during a strong
seismic event. The combined effect of underground tunnel
structure and faults should be taken into account for optimizing
structural design and improving the capability of tunnel structures
resisting to strong seismic events.

1367-9120/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2012.12.006
126 Z. Yang et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 64 (2013) 125–135
The Wenchuan earthquake caused tremendous damage to
underground tunnel structures (Wang et al., 2009) and a large
amount of secondary geological disasters (Yin et al., 2010; Dai
et al., 2011; Dong et al., 2011; Qi et al., 2010, 2011). The results
from field survey show the inner parts of investigated tunnels suf-
fer moderate damages mainly due to fault displacements. Long-
menshan fault is its major seismic fault. A section of the Cheng-
Lan Railway (from Chengdu to Lanzhou of China) was designed
to cross longmenshan fault. The tunnel-fault system (underground
tunnel structures crossed by active faults) was composed of the
Dengjiaping Tunnel and Beichuan–Yingxiu Fault (BYF). Its dynamic
response to the seismic event is investigated using a 3-Dimen-
sional Discrete Element Code (Cundall, 1971). The real records of
ground motion in the Wenchuan earthquake are used for its dy-
namic boundary input. Many key characteristics are examined,
including stress distribution, strain, vibration velocity and failure
process for a better understanding of dynamic response of the rock
masses around the tunnel-fault system (RMTF). The results are ex-
pected to provide references for the engineering design and safety
assessment of underground tunnel structures.
2. Study area
The Longmenshan section of the Cheng-Lan Railway is located
in the southeast edge of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau characterized
by complicated geological setting. For example, complicated lithol-
ogy (the strata include the time period from upper Archean to Qua-
ternary (Qi et al., 2011)) and developed active faults (e.g.,
Maoxian–Wenchuan Fault (MWF) (F1 in Fig. 1), Beichuan–Yingxiu
Fault (BYF) (F2 in Fig. 1) and Jiangyou–Guanxian Fault (JGF) (F3 in
Fig. 1). The complicated conditions of engineering geology shall
bring remarkable difficulty to the construction of the Cheng-Lan
Railway.
The study emphasis is the tunnel-fault system that is composed
of the Dengjiaping Tunnel (T2 in Fig. 1) and BYF. The Dengjiaping
tunnel, a key project of the Cheng-Lan Railway, is located in the
front zone of the Longmenshan cordillera and traverses the BYF.
Fig. 1. Geological and tectonic map of the Longmenshan section of the Cheng-Lan Railway (from Chengdu to Lanzhou of China). F1: Maoxian–Wenchuan Fault (MWF), F2:
Beichuan–Yingxiu Fault (BYF), F3: Jiangyou–Guanxian Fault (JGF). T1: Longmenshan Tunnel, T2: Dengjiaping Tunnel.
The BYF is the central segment of Longmenshan faults system
(trending NE-NNE, about 500 km long and 30–50 km wide). Fig. 2
shows the detailed engineering geological modeling section of
the Dengjiaping tunnel. The entrance and exit of tunnel is located
in Yangerping and Meizitan, respectively. The entire length and
maximum buried depth of the tunnel is 10,534 m and 921 m,
respectively. For the construction of such a long-buried railway
tunnel, it is inevitable to confront some challenge of ensuring its
safety.
3. Methodology
3.1. Numerical code
The FEM (Finite Element Method) and FLAC (Fast Lagrangian
Analysis of Continua) methods that have been used by many
researchers (Anastasopoulos et al., 2007, 2008; Anastasopoulos
and Gazetas, 2010; Jeon et al., 2004; Mirko et al., 2011) have the
disadvantage in simulating the large deformation or displacement
of rock masses. The state of plane stress in 2-dimensional model
would constrain the spreading of seismic wave energy (Chen,
2000). So, the seismic response may be underestimated (Ichimura
and Hori, 2009). 3DEC, which is developed to simulate the large
displacement of discontinuous jointed rock masses (Cundall,
1971), overcomes these shortcomings. This method is based on
the hypothesis of pseudo-rigid rock masses and the theoretic basis
of Newton’s second law. So, in this paper, 3DEC is adopted to char-
acterize the dynamic response of the tunnel-fault system to strong
earthquakes.
3.2. Model
3.2.1. Geometric model
According to the geological and tectonic conditions of the study
area, a 3DEC geometric model with width 50 km, length 50 km and
height 10 km (Fig. 3a) was constructed. The geometric model in-
cludes 11 strata (11 different color in Fig. 3a and b), one tunnel
 Z. Yang et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 64 (2013) 125–135 127

Fig. 2. Engineering geological section of the Dengjiaping tunnel. F2 is the modeled Beichuan–Yingxiu Fault (BYF).

Fig. 3. (a) Side view of the 3DEC geometric model. (b) Overlooking view of the 3DEC geometric model. (c) The block discretization of tunnel model. (d) Close-up of the partial
block discretization of tunnel model cut by fault (F2), whose front face is the intersection interface of tunnel and fault. The black dots in (b) and (d) are the monitoring points
to examine the dynamic response of rock masses during seismic loading. F1, F2 and F3 have the same meaning as Fig. 1. T (black dashed line) is the ground projection of the
tunnel model. The lithology of strata is shown in Table 1 through the corresponding ID.

(T in Fig. 3b) and three faults (F1, F2 and F3 in Fig. 3a and b). The Table 1
tunnel (T) and fault (F2) compose the tunnel-fault system that is Material properties of rock masses (ID: Strata ID in Fig. 3. E: Young’s modulus. m:
Poisson’s ratio. q: Mass density).
the study emphasis in this paper. Three faults are also the bound-
aries of different strata. The entire model length of tunnel axis is ID Lithology E (GPa) m q (kg/m3)
200 m with individual length about 100 m in 2 different strata 1 Sandstone, clay 19.3 0.38 2200
(Fig. 3c). Relative to ground surface, the buried depth of tunnel axis 2, 6 Limestone, dolomite 28.5 0.29 2300
is 800 m. The shape of tunnel is saddle-shape with width 10 m and 3, 10 Carbonatite, clastic rock 43.0 0.27 2400
4 Granite 73.8 0.22 2700
height 9 m.
5,11 Sandstone, shale, dolomite 53.0 0.26 2450
7 Muddy shale, siltstone, sandstone 11.1 0.29 2300
8 Phyllite, slate 30.0 0.25 2600
9 Mudstone, siltstone 50.0 0.25 2500
3.2.2. Parameters
Rock masses and discontinuities adopted ‘‘Mohr–Coulomb plas-
ticity’’ and ‘‘Coulomb slip’’ constitutive model, respectively. The
their displacement magnitude is agreeable to the field survey at
parameters have been calibrated including the rock mass (Young’s
the nearest locations.
modulus, Poisson’s ratio and density) and joint properties (stiff-
ness, cohesion, friction angle, etc.) (Table 1 and Table 2). The initial
properties were selected referring to related literatures (Starfield 3.2.3. Dynamic input
and Cundall, 1988; Lan and Wu, 2001), 3DEC manual (Itasca, The actual acceleration histories of ground motion during the
2007) and a number of the experiential material properties within Wenchuan earthquake measured by Qingping observation site,
the study area. The joint properties were assigned to both faults Sichuan province, China were adopted for dynamic analysis. The
and beddings based on the estimation of their mobility character- acceleration histories include three orientations: east–west orien-
istics. These parameters were then adjusted prudentially by exam- tation (EW), north–south orientation (NS) and vertical orientation
ining the ground displacement of various monitoring points until (UD). Considering computational efficiency of 3DEC model, the
128 Z. Yang et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 64 (2013) 125–135

Table 2
Material properties of discontinuities (Kn: normal stiffness. Ks: shear stiffness. C: cohesion. u: internal frictional angle. T: tensile strength. C0 : residual cohesion. u0 : residual
internal frictional angle. F1, F2 and F3 are the fault models in Fig. 3).

Discontinuities Kn (GPa) Ks (GPa) C (MPa) U (°) T (MPa) C0 (MPa) u0 (°)

F1 1.0 0.8 0.8 25 0.5 0.4 20
F2 0.9 0.6 0.7 24 0.4 0.4 21
F3 1.1 0.7 0.5 26 0.6 0.5 22
Bedding 5.0 4.0 3.5 30 5.0 0.4 25

records between 30th and 80th second of the acceleration histo-
ries, in which most seismic energy distributes were selected for dy-
namic analysis. The selected acceleration history sections with
duration 50 s were converted to stress histories (Itasca, 2007)
(Fig. 4), which were added to 3DEC model as stress wave.
boundary, respectively. Finally, the dynamic calculation was
achieved under the seismic loading using the stress histories.
3.4. Model validation

3.3. Dynamic calculation
Based on the 3DEC geometric model and the calibrated param-
eters, numerical calculation was conducted. Firstly, the model was
initially run to the static equilibrium under only gravity and initial
field stress to equilibrate the body forces and the boundary forces
prior to the seismic loading. Then, the model was subjected to var-
ious dynamic conditions. The model adopted Rayleigh damping to
describe the energy loss of physical system. The coefficient of
Rayleigh damping adopted the critical damping ratio 0.05 and
the fundamental frequency 20 Hz. The bottom, top and four sides
of model adopted viscous boundary, free boundary and free-field
We carried out model validation using qualitative and quantita-
tive validation methods. The qualitative method is to compare the
fault’s rupture characteristics between modeled results and field
survey. The Wenchuan earthquake induces abundant co-seismic
ground rupture, of which one typical ground rupture at Qingping
observation site near the BYF is shown in Fig. 5 (Chen et al.,
2009). The modeled fault behaved in the same way of thrusting
with right strike-slip (Fig. 15) as real faulting. The modeled damage
pattern is also agreeable with that observed at filed survey. The
modeled tunnel structure shows shear-tension damage character-
istics which can be observed in many tunnels during the Wenchu-
an earthquake (Wang et al., 2009).

Fig. 4. The stress histories with duration 50 s from actual acceleration histories of the Wenchuan earthquake measured by the Qingping observation site, Sichuan province,
China. (a) East–west orientation (EW). (b) North–south orientation (NS). (c) Vertical orientation (UD).
 Z. Yang et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 64 (2013) 125–135
Fig. 5. Co-seismic ground rupture and their measured topographic profiles on the main road (a) and on the third terrace (b) at Qingping observation site, Sichuan province,
China (Chen et al., 2009).
The quantitative method is to statistically compare values of the
ground motion displacement along the Beichuan–Yingxiu fault be-
tween modeled results and field survey. In terms of the field survey
of ground motion after Wenchuan earthquake, along the BYF, the
vertical displacement of ground rupture is between 1.6 m and
6.0 m with an average of 2.9 m, and the horizontal displacement
of ground rupture is between 0.2 m and 6.5 m with an average of
3.1 m (Chen et al., 2009; Li et al., 2009). The modeled horizontal
and vertical displacement values (Table 3) of the monitoring points
in Fig. 3b were acquired, which were statistically compared with
field survey (Fig. 6). The modeled average vertical displacement
and horizontal displacement is 2.75 m and 3.18 m with error of
5.17% and 2.58% comparing with field survey, respectively. The
coincidence or comparability between the modeled faulting dis-
placement and field survey shows that the modeled numerical re-
sults have high reliability.
4. Results
4.1. Stress distribution
In order to analyze the effect of fault on stress distribution and
stress concentration in the RMTF under strong seismic excitation,
the maximum principle stress distribution of four tunnel cross-sec-
tions in the 10th second of seismic loading, when there is consid-
erable stress concentration, was acquired (Fig. 7).
Many previous studies have shown that stress redistribution
and stress concentration may occur in the RMTF under strong
external disturbance (Moore and Guan, 1996). In the case of the ab-
sence of fault (Fig. 7a), the stress distribution is mainly affected by
tunnel structures and free surface amplification of seismic waves
propagation. The tensile stress concentration (red color in Fig. 7a)
with a symmetric distribution can be observed on both side walls
of tunnel. Simultaneously, the slight compressive stress concentra-
tion (blue color in Fig. 7a) can also be observed on the top of tun-
nel. So, the top and both side walls of tunnel are likely to encounter
more damage.
Table 3
Numerical modeled results of ground motion along the BYF (H: horizontal displacement. V: vertical displacement. A: average displacement).
1 2 3 4 5 6
H (m) 4.68 4.71 4.53 4.55 4.66 4.08
V (m) 3.59 2.93 3.28 3.64 3.51 3.21
129
Fig. 6. The comparison between real records in the Wenchuan earthquake and
numerical modeled results of ground motion along the BYF.
The presence and dislocation of faults in rock masses (Fig. 7b–
d) induced the reflection and refraction of seismic waves, and af-
fected their propagation characteristics (Wang et al., 2006), which
formed complicated seismic wave field. As a result, stress redistri-
bution and stress concentration near faulting region in rock
masses arose. The tensile stress concentration (red color in
Fig. 7b–d) can be observed along the oblique faults in all three
scenarios. Simultaneously, the compressive stress concentration
(deep blue color in Fig. 7b–d) can also be observed in some re-
gions. In addition, the area characterized by stress concentration
in the circumstance of the presence of fault is much larger than
that of the absence of fault. So, the difference of stress distribution
between two scenarios of the presence and absence of fault can be
attributed to the significant effect of faults on seismic wave
propagation.
In order to further analyze the effect of the tunnel-fault interac-
tion on the stress distribution in RMTF under strong seismic exci-
tation, the maximum principle stress distribution along tunnel and
fault in the 10th second of seismic loading is acquired (Fig. 8).
Then, the average maximum principal stress values along tunnel
(the top and bottom of tunnel) (Fig. 9) and fault (Fig. 10) from
the 7th to 15th second of seismic loading are acquired.
7 8 9 10 11 12 A (m)
3.73 1.41 1.86 1.31 1.45 1.45 3.18
3.74 1.85 2.47 1.74 1.64 1.41 2.75
130 Z. Yang et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 64 (2013) 125–135

Fig. 7. Maximum principal stress distribution of four tunnel cross-sections in the tenth second of seismic loading. The dotted lines indicate the faults. The locations of tunnel
cross-sections are shown in Fig. 8. Please note that there is some rupture failure and dislocation along faults (see red circles). (For interpretation of the references to color in
this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 8. Maximum principal stress distribution along tunnel and fault in the tenth second of seismic loading. The oblique dotted line indicates the fault with length 200 m. The
vertical dotted lines ((1) 112 m, (2) 100 m, (3) 92 m, (4) 84 m) indicate the locations of four tunnel cross-sections (a–d in Fig. 7, respectively. The black dots are the monitoring
points to examine the dynamic response of rock masses during seismic loading.

4.5E+07
4.0E+07
tunnel top
3.5E+07
3.0E+07
tunnel bottom
Stress (Pa)

2.5E+07
2.0E+07
1.5E+07
1.0E+07
5.0E+06
0.0E+00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200
Length (m)

Fig. 9. Average maximum principal stress along the top and bottom of tunnel from the 7th to 15th second of seismic loading.
 Z. Yang et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 64 (2013) 125–135
4.5E+07
4.0E+07
3.5E+07
3.0E+07
Stress (Pa)
2.5E+07
2.0E+07
1.5E+07
1.0E+07
5.0E+06
0.0E+00
0 10 20 30 40 50
Fig. 10. Average maximum principle stress along fault from the 7th to 15th second of seismic loading. The center of tunnel is located at 100 m. The 0 m and 200 m is the
bottom and top of fault, respectively.
Fig. 11. Vibration velocity histories with duration 60 s of monitoring point c, e (a), p and r (b), as shown in Fig. 8, during the dynamic response of tunnel-fault system.
The obvious stress concentration (red1 color in Fig. 8) can be ob-
served in the intersection of tunnel and fault. However, there is not
obvious stress concentration away from the intersection of tunnel
and fault. So, the phenomena of dramatic stress concentration in
the intersection of tunnel and fault can be attributed to the intensive
tunnel-fault interaction under strong seismic excitation. In addition,
the values of the maximum principle stress, as shown in Fig. 9 and
Fig. 10, as well as the area of stress concentration are larger in the
top than in the bottom of tunnel. As a result, the intersection of tun-
nel and fault is likely to encounter more damage than other regions.
4.2. Vibration velocity
The tunnel-fault interaction can also be reflected by the vibra-
tion behavior of rock masses along tunnel and fault. We analyzed
the vibration behavior using the vibration velocity histories of
the monitoring points along tunnel and fault, as shown in Fig. 8.
The vibration velocity histories of monitoring point c, e, p and r
are illustrated in Fig. 11. On the whole, the vibration action is more
intensive from about the 5th to the 25th second when there are
strong stress waves with high energy (Fig. 4). After the termination
of seismic loading in the 50th second, the vibration velocity weak-
1
For interpretation of color in Figs. 8 and 15, the reader is referred to the web
version of this article.
131
tunnel
60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200
Length (m)
ens remarkably. The fluctuation trend of vibration velocity histo-
ries shows that the vibration motion of monitoring point e and p
is more intensive than that of monitoring point c and r, respec-
tively. So, the stress and strain at the monitoring point e and p re-
sponse more intensively than other points since they are closer to
the intersection of tunnel and fault than monitoring point c and r.
The peak vibration velocity values of all monitoring points (in
Fig. 8) are illustrated in Fig. 12. Along fault and the top of tunnel,
the peak vibration velocity values gradually decrease with increas-
ing distance to the intersection of tunnel and fault where there is
intensive tunnel-fault interaction. That is to say, the effect of tun-
nel-fault interaction on dynamic response of tunnel-fault system
gradually decreases with increasing distance to the intersection
of tunnel and fault.
4.3. Tunnel failure process
In this study, the tunnel failure process was examined though
analyzing the dislocation displacement characteristics of the RMTF.
Based on the motion characteristics of the monitoring points in
Fig. 3d, the average horizontal and vertical displacement histories
(Fig. 13), and the maximum principle strain rate history (Fig. 14)
of the RMTF were acquired. Fig. 13 shows that, on the whole, the
vertical displacement is larger than the horizontal displacement.
From Fig. 13 and Fig. 14, we can observe that the nonconstant tan-
132 Z. Yang et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 64 (2013) 125–135

Fig. 12. Peak vibration velocity of all monitoring points along tunnel (a) and fault (b), as shown in Fig. 8, during the dynamic response of tunnel-fault system.

(1 ) (2 ) (3 ) (4 ) (5 )
3.500

3.000
Displacement (m)

2.500

2.000

1.500

1.000 Vertical displacement

0.500 Horizontal displacement
0.000
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
Time (s)

Fig. 13. Dislocation displacement histories of the RMTF statistically resulted from monitoring points in Fig. 3d. The time sections (1–5) divided by dotted lines indicate five
main stages of tunnel failure process (see Section 5).

(1 ) (2 ) (3 ) (4 ) (5 )
1.200
0.98
1.000

0.800
strain rate

0.600

0.400

0.200

0.000
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
Time (s)

Fig. 14. Maximum principle strain rate history of the RMTF resulted from monitoring points in Fig. 3d. The time sections (1–5) have the same meaning as that in Fig. 13.

gent slope of displacement history curves and nonconstant strain
rate, which shows that the dislocation displacement of the RMTF
goes through non-uniform growth.
Fig. 15 shows typical failure state and maximum principle stress
distribution of the RMTF during seismic response of the tunnel-
fault system. Fig. 15a shows the initial static equilibrium state
without obvious stress concentration and tunnel failure before
seismic loading. The faulting regions are very likely weaker than
surrounding rocks and thus are more responsive to the stress
change induced by earthquakes (Duan, 2010). The red color
(Fig. 15b–f) indicates the remarkable stress accumulation and
stress concentration, which suggests the intensive tunnel-fault
interaction in the intersection of tunnel and fault during seismic
loading. When the accumulated stress in the RMTF (shear stress,
especially) exceeds the fault strength, the fault begins to rupture
and the tunnel begins to fail which can be indicated by the disloca-
tion displacement in the intersection of tunnel and fault in Fig. 15.
In the 10th second of seismic loading, the dislocation displacement
of the RMTF sharply increases (large tangent slope in Fig. 13), and
the strain rate arrives at peak value (Fig. 14).
Then, the accumulated stress begins to release, which can be
indicated by the decreasing area with red color from Fig. 15c to f.
With the gradual decrease of seismic loading, the tunnel-fault
interaction in the intersection of tunnel and fault begins to weaken,
and the dislocation displacement rate of the RMTF begins to de-
creases. After the termination of seismic loading in the 50th sec-
ond, the dislocation displacement of the RMTF has no obvious
increase and the tunnel-fault system gradually approaches to the
 Z. Yang et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 64 (2013) 125–135
Fig. 15. Typical failure state and maximum principal stress distribution of the RMTF during seismic loading. (a) is the initial statically balanced state before seismic loading.
(b–f) are the typical scenario of five time sections (1–5) in Fig. 13 and Fig. 14, respectively. Relative to the intersection of tunnel axis and fault interface, the length, height and
width of the RMTF are 120 m, 15 m and 15 m, respectively.
stable state with static equilibrium. The residual dislocation dis-
placement can be found comparing the tunnel failure scenario in
Fig 15a and f.
5. Discussion
The tectonic structure of the tunnel-fault system that includes
many geological and structural objects is considerably compli-
cated. Lan et al. (2010, 2012) has suggested that the stress redistri-
bution within the discontinuous rock masses plays an important
role in their damage processes. The interaction between fault and
tunnel structure dramatically amplify the effect of seismic event
on the rock mass behavior during the development of progressive
deformation and failure process. The initial static equilibrium of
field stress in rock masses is disturbed by the strong seismic
excitation, and then the initial field stress begins to redistribute.
During the stress redistribution, the remarkable stress accumula-
tion and stress concentration is observed in the intersection of tun-
nel and fault because of intensive tunnel-fault interaction and
geological material-tunnel interaction. The local stress concentra-
tion results in the non-uniform stress distribution. From the differ-
ent seismic response characteristics of key elements (stress, strain,
displacement and rate) at the different location of rock masses, we
can include that the seismic response in the intersection of tunnel
and fault is more intensive. So, the intersection of tunnel and fault
could have more damage and potential threat to the tunnel
structures.
Lan et al. (2012) investigated the damage evolution of in situ
rock mass damage induced by mechanical–thermal loading and
suggested that the failure process can be divided by a number of
distinct stages. Similarly, based on the non-uniform growth of
the dislocation displacement of the RMTF and associated stress,
strain developing characteristics, we can conclude that the tunnel
failure process is nonlinear under the combined effect of strong
earthquakes and faults. The process can be qualitatively divided
133
into 5 main stages (see Fig. 13 and Fig. 14) based on its stress,
strain and rupturing behaviors: (1) strain localization, (2) rupture
initiation, (3) rupture acceleration, (4) spontaneous rupture
growth and (5) stabilization.
5.1. Strain localization
The preliminary stress concentration in the intersection of tun-
nel and fault induces the slight deformation, and then the intensive
deformation concentration at some location of rock masses. The
performance of non-continuous deformation development is
named strain localization (Fig. 15b). The strain localization is the
aura of severe rock masses failure.
5.2. Rupture initiation
The severe strain localization changes the internal structure of
rock masses, which dynamically reduces its frictional strength,
and then increases its frictional instability. Small dislocation
displacement occurs along the weak fault in the intersection of
tunnel and fault (Fig. 15c), which indicates the formation of shear
slide surface, as well as is the breakthrough point of the progres-
sive failure of the entire RMTF.
5.3. Rupture acceleration
With the high seismic loading in this stage, the accumulated
stress rapidly grows. As a result, the dramatic rupture failure oc-
curs along the weak fault in the intersection of tunnel and fault,
and the dislocation displacement (Fig. 13) and failure area
(Fig. 15d) rapidly increases. The principle strain rate arrives at peak
value (Fig. 14). Due to the remarkable rupture failure of rock
masses consumes some internal energy coming from accumulated
stress, the accumulated stress in rock masses begins to release, and
the area with high accumulated stress begins to decrease.
134 Z. Yang et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 64 (2013) 125–135
5.4. Spontaneous rupture growth
After the remarkable rupture failure occurrence, the rupture
failure spontaneously grows mainly along the weak fault and other
discontinuities in rock masses under the continuous seismic load-
ing (Fig. 15e). Rupture propagation on a major active fault is con-
trolled by the properties of slip-weakening friction law on the
fault. Friction controls the initiation, development of rupture, and
the healing of faults (Madariaga et al., 1998).
5.5. Stabilization
In this stage, the seismic loading terminates, and the accumu-
lated stress further releases. The tunnel-fault system comes into
self-stabilization stage, and finally reaches the stable state with
static equilibrium (Fig. 15f). The seismic induced residual disloca-
tion displacement (residual deformation) can be observed in the
post-earthquake equilibrium state (Fig. 15f) as compare with the
initial statically balanced state (Fig. 15a).
6. Conclusions
There are significant challenges to provide a better understand-
ing of the tunnel-fault interaction and the tunnel failure process
under the combined effect of strong earthquakes and faults. None-
theless, 3-D discontinuous element modeling approach and abun-
dant data acquired for the Mw7.9 Wenchuan earthquake occurred
in May 12, 2008 provide an opportunity to investigate the dynamic
responses of tunnel-fault system to the strong seismic event. The
displacements from the numerical modeling were in reasonable
agreement with the measured displacement along faulting system.
The modeled distribution and evolution of key elements (stress,
strain, displacement and rate) were capable of capturing the char-
acteristics of these complicated dynamic processes.
The dynamic failure process of tunnel-fault system is a stress-
dominant progressive process. The stress redistribution and evolu-
tion play a significant role in the development of failure process of
the RMTF during the strong earthquake. The non-linear failure pro-
cess of tunnel-fault system induced by strong seismic event is
characterized by several different stages with different response
characteristics. More complicated mechanism might be behind this
process, e.g., the deterioration of friction and strength of rock
masses.
The comparison of tunnel-fault system to far-field rock mass
behavior reveals basic characteristics of tunnel-fault interaction
in response to strong seismic event. Despite the limitation of
numerical modeling at such large scale, it appears to have captured
many key elements of the failure processes of tunnel-fault system
under strong seismic event. Understanding of these processes
helps to link the seismic response of tunnel to its stability analysis.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Science Founda-
tion of China (41072241) and Chinese geological survey program
(1212010914025). The authors also wish to acknowledge the Chi-
nese Seismic Bureau for providing the seismic ground motion data.
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