Tunnelling-Induced Vibration: A Case Study of Shield Machine Interaction with Diaphragm Walls

This paper investigates the effects of shield tunnelling on the diaphragm walls of a subway station, with particular focus on the influence of tunnelling-induced vibration on subway station structures. We analyzed the relationship between ground conditions, tunnelling parameters and self-vibration of the shield to investigate how vibration was generated. Additionally, we analyzed the structure vibrations to investigate the propagation law from shield to station structures and estimate the safety of structures. The findings indicate a strong correlation between ground stiffness and the effective amplitude of shield self-vibration; variations in amplitude acceleration reflect the orientation of ground layers. Furthermore, ground homogeneity affected the amplitude, frequency, and mutations in vibration characteristics. The analysis shows that the torque and rotational speed had a better correlation with vibration than thrust force and advance speed, suggesting that lowering the rotational speed is an effective strategy for mitigating vibration effects. For structural vibration, the attenuation was significant when vibration propagated from the shield to the subway station structures. Although station structures undergoing repeated load-unload cycles during tunnelling, the vibrations were not structurally damaging. This paper concludes by discussing potential applications of tunneling-induced vibrations in engineering.