Mechanical Behaviors of Submerged Floating Tunnel under Current Effect

Introduction Submerged floating tunnel ( SFT) provides acomplete new option for crossing of waterways, andcan connect both lands and channels where appropri-ate1-5]. Being a structure not buried deeply in theground, but suspended in a certain depth below…

Mechanical Behaviors of Submerged Floating Tunnel under Current Effect

In order to provide a technical reference and guidance for the safety and stability analysis of the submerged floating tunnel (SFT) in the future, the mechanical behaviors of SFT under the action of water current with different velocities were studied by experiments on an SFT tube model made of rubber. Then, a numerical simulation on the coupling interaction between SFT and water current was conducted by finite element method (FEM). The comparison between the results obtained from experiment and those derived from the numerical simulation shows that the experimental results approximately tally with the simulational ones. As a result, the relationships between water current velocities and the mechanical behaviors of tube, such as the annular and axial strains, internal forces (axial force and bending moment), and deformations of the tube structure and the forces borne by the tension cables, were concluded.