Study on seismic behaviors of a double box utility tunnel with joint connections using shaking table model tests

Abstract Shaking table model tests were carried out to study the seismic behaviors of double box utility tunnel with joint connections and the surrounding soil. The seismic wave obtained from 1952 Taft earthquake was employed as the input in this study, and its PGA has been adjusted to 0.2 g, 0.4 g, 0.8 g, and 1.2 g, respectively. In addition, a series of sine waves with PGA of 0.2 g and frequencies of 5 Hz, 10 Hz, 15 Hz, 20 Hz, 25 Hz, and 30 Hz were applied to study the effect of frequency characteristics on seismic behavior of the utility tunnel and the surrounding soil. The testing results show that the laminar soil container does not impose significant boundary effect, and the dynamic earth pressure response is significantly influenced due to existence of the joint connection. Besides, the effect of soil-structure interaction on seismic behaviors is becoming even more obvious as the input PGA increases. The acceleration response is also significantly influenced by the dynamic property of the soil. Greater bending moment occurs at the corners of the structure, and its increasing ratio will decrease with an increasing input PGA magnitude. Lastly, the effect of frequency is significant. Therefore, it is noteworthy that the possible effect of natural frequency is considered when the utility tunnel is under construction.