Experimental study on mechanism of soil arching effect induced by vertical unloading in deep underground construction

Experimental study on mechanism of soil arching effect induced by vertical unloading in deep underground construction

PDF

Xing-Tao Lin^a^,^b^,^c^,^d, Deng Wang^a, Dong Su^a^,^b^,^c^,^d^,^*, Hui Zeng^a, Ruixiao Zhang^a^,^b^,^c^,^d, Xiangsheng Chen^a^,^b^,^c^,^d

Underground Space | 2026, 27 : 424 - 444

Less

Underground Space | 2026, 27: 424-444

• Research Paper •

Experimental study on mechanism of soil arching effect induced by vertical unloading in deep underground construction

Full

Xing-Tao Lin^a^,^b^,^c^,^d, Deng Wang^a, Dong Su^a^,^b^,^c^,^d^,^*, Hui Zeng^a, Ruixiao Zhang^a^,^b^,^c^,^d, Xiangsheng Chen^a^,^b^,^c^,^d

Affiliations

^aCollege of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518061, China

^bKey Laboratory for Resilient Infrastructures of Coastal Cities (MOE), Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China

^cState Key Laboratory of Intelligent Geotechnics and Tunnelling, Shenzhen 518060, China

^dUnderground Polis Academy, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China

Published: 2026-04-10 doi: 10.1016/j.undsp.2025.12.003

Outline

Abstract

Less

As shallow underground resources are depleted, urban development is extending to greater depths, necessitating a clear understanding of soil arching at various burial depth conditions. Laboratory trapdoor tests equipped with embedded soil-pressure cells and digital image correlation captured the ground-reaction curve and soil deformation. The results reveal pronounced discrepancies between shallow and deep burial. In shallow conditions, soil arching undergoes a "failure-reconstruction" process: soil pressure plunges, then rebounds to stability. In deep strata, the arching forms rapidly and attains stability almost immediately after the minimum pressure is reached. Shallow tests generate several horizontal displacement bands rising to 4.8B (B, trapdoor width); deep tests yield one stable band, with its influence height reduced to about 3.0B. Vertical displacement above the trapdoor evolves through 'triangular-tower-para bolic" stages to 4.3B in shallow tests, but follows a persistent parabolic profile limited to 2.7B in deep tests. Additionally, shear bands under deep conditions form at smaller angles and are more vertically oriented. These findings expose the fundamental differences in deformation mechanisms between shallow and deep burial and provide quantitative criteria for depth zoning in urban underground space development.

Key words

Soil arching / Trapdoor test / Digital image correlation / Deep burial

Cite this Article

Xing-Tao Lin, Deng Wang, Dong Su, Hui Zeng, Ruixiao Zhang, Xiangsheng Chen. Experimental study on mechanism of soil arching effect induced by vertical unloading in deep underground construction[J]. Underground Space, 2026 , 27 : 424 -444 . DOI: 10.1016/j.undsp.2025.12.003

Full Text

Less

Funding

Less

National Natural Science Foundation of China(52208355; 52378308)
Shenzhen Science and Technology Program(JCYJ20250604181459043)

Appendix

Less

Year 2026 volume 27 Issue 0

PDF

Cite this Article

BibTeX

Article Info

doi: 10.1016/j.undsp.2025.12.003

Receive Date：2025-06-09
Online Date：2026-06-17
Published：2026-04-10

Article Data

Affiliations

History

Received：2025-06-09
Revised：2025-11-30
Accepted：2025-12-16

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China(52208355; 52378308)

Shenzhen Science and Technology Program(JCYJ20250604181459043)

Affiliations

^aCollege of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518061, China

^bKey Laboratory for Resilient Infrastructures of Coastal Cities (MOE), Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China

^cState Key Laboratory of Intelligent Geotechnics and Tunnelling, Shenzhen 518060, China

^dUnderground Polis Academy, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China

Corresponding:

^* College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518061, China. E-mail address: sudong@szu.edu.cn (D. Su).

References

Share

https://castjournals.cast.org.cn/joweb/undsp/EN/10.1016/j.undsp.2025.12.003

Share to

Scan QR to access full text

Cite this article

BibTeX

Citations

表12种不同金属材料的力学参数

科 Family	属数 Number of genus	种数 Number of species	占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%)	属 Genus	种数 Number of species	占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%)
鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae	2	11	5.26	鹅膏菌属 Amanita	10	4.78
小菇科 Mycenaceae	2	12	5.74	丝盖伞属 Inocybe	5	2.39
多孔菌科 Polyporaceae	8	14	6.70	蜡蘑属 Laccaria	5	2.39
红菇科 Russulaceae	3	23	11.00	小皮伞属 Marasmius	6	2.87
				小菇属 Mycena	11	5.26
				光柄菇属 Pluteus	5	2.39
				红菇属 Russula	17	8.13
				栓菌属 Trametes	5	2.39

关闭全屏

BibTeX
EndNote
RefWorks
TxT

Articles: Latest Articles; Most Read; Collections

Updates: Events; News; Multimedia

About: About Us

Contact

No. 86 Xueyuan South Road, Haidian District, Beijing

100081

010-62199257

qkjq@cast.org.cn

Copyright © 2025 China Association for Science and Technology. All rights reserved. For all open access content, the relevant licensing terms apply.
Sponsored by the Office of the Leading Group for Cybersecurity and Informatization of CAST, and supported by Science and Technology Review Publishing House