Surface settlement during shield tunnelling at CH218 in Taipei

This paper presents the surface settlement performance induced by the foamed type of earth pressure balance shield in contract CH218 of the Hsintien Line of the Taipei Rapid Transit System. The surface settlement characteristics caused by the single tunnel and by twin tunnels with reference to two sections spaced at 87 m are studied. Field observations indicate that the surface settlement trough due to the single tunnel can be represented by the normal distribution. The distance of the inflection point to the tunnel center and maximum surface settlement value are consistent with those found in the literature. The characteristics of the surface settlement trough are related to the type of the soil, particularly where the crown of the tunnel is located in a layered soil deposit. The ground surface settlement induced by twin tunnels was found to be larger than estimated using the principle of superposition.