Influence of the Constitutive Model for Shotcrete on the Predicted Structural Behavior of the Shotcrete Shell of a Deep Tunnel

The aim of the present paper is to investigate the influence of the constitutive model for shotcrete on the predicted displacements and stresses in shotcrete shells of deep tunnels. Previously proposed shotcrete models as well as a new extended damage plasticity model for shotcrete are evaluated in the context of 2D finite element simulations of the excavation of a stretch of a deep tunnel by means of the New Austrian Tunneling Method. Thereby, the behavior of the surrounding rock mass is described by the commonly used Hoek–Brown model. Differences in predicted evolutions of displacements and stresses in the shotcrete shell, resulting from the different shotcrete models, are discussed and simulation results are compared to available in situ measurement data.