ABSTRACT
In recent years, there have been a number of tunnel construction projects in urban areas where the performance of nearby piled foundations might have been affected by the tunnelling activities (Fig. 1, Pang 2006). This might have resulted in increasing pile settlement and changes in the shear stress distribution in the piles. There have recently been several studies on the influence of tunnelling on the behaviour of piles located near a tunnel (Vermeer & Bonnier 1991; Bezuijen & Schrier 1994; Mroueh & Shahrour 2002; Jacobsz 2002; Lee 2005; Selamates et al. 2005; Pang 2006 and others). These were based on field observations, numerical simulations and experimental studies. These studies considered the effects of tunnelling on piles constructed mainly in clayey or sandy ground. Compared to the overseas studies, however, research on this issue is rather limited in Korea (Lee et al. 2006). Moreover, geological condition in Korea is completely different from above-mentioned ground types. Typically the ground in Korea consists mainly of weathered soils, weathered rock and soft rock. These materials might have resulted in different tunnel-pile interaction compared to the overseas studies. Furthermore, the behaviour of piles affected by tunnelling has attracted less attention among engineers.
