Sealant performance and leakage mechanisms in shield tunnels with T-joint effects: A pathfinding-based approach integrating contact stress analysis

T-joints represent a critical yet distinct structural feature in shield tunnels, exhibiting fundamentally different sealant performance and leakage behaviours compared to continuous joints. This study presents a novel pathfinding algorithm-based approach integrating contact stress analysis to evalua...

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Autores: Xie, Jiachong, Molins i Borrell, Climent|||0000-0001-8292-0473, Huang, Xin, Zixin, Zhang, Wang, Jinchang
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2026
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:upcommonspor::e1783905fc5ee1c659d013cc0ae6656a
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/461077
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2025.08.003
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Shield tunnel
T-joint
Gasketed joint
Sealant performance
Localised leakage
Offset
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Informàtica teòrica::Algorísmica i teoria de la complexitat
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Geotècnia::Túnels i excavacions
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network_name_str España
repository_id_str
spelling Sealant performance and leakage mechanisms in shield tunnels with T-joint effects: A pathfinding-based approach integrating contact stress analysisXie, JiachongMolins i Borrell, Climent|||0000-0001-8292-0473Huang, XinZixin, ZhangWang, JinchangShield tunnelT-jointGasketed jointSealant performanceLocalised leakageOffsetÀrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Informàtica teòrica::Algorísmica i teoria de la complexitatÀrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Geotècnia::Túnels i excavacionsT-joints represent a critical yet distinct structural feature in shield tunnels, exhibiting fundamentally different sealant performance and leakage behaviours compared to continuous joints. This study presents a novel pathfinding algorithm-based approach integrating contact stress analysis to evaluate localised sealant behaviour and leakage mechanisms affected by T-joints under various deformation patterns. The approach enables simultaneous assessment of waterproof capacity and identification of potential leakage paths. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated by comparing with laboratory testing data. It is further demonstrated that the waterproof capacity of T-joints can be effectively characterised by an ellipsoid function accounting for joint offset and openings in both circumferential and longitudinal directions. Joint offset substantially reduces waterproof capacity and creates localised lift-up areas with critically low contact stress due to gasket-to-groove interaction. Longitudinal joint openings exhibit less impact on waterproofing performance compared to circumferential openings, with residual sealing capacity maintained even at full opening displacement. A newly proposed leakage centralisation ratio reveals four distinct leakage regions, whose formation depends on joint-specific contact behaviour governed by opening and offset parameters. These insights provide a quantitative basis for optimising T-joint design in shield tunnels, with particular relevance for waterproofing system performance under complex loading conditions.This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52278407) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 22120210573 ). The first author also wants to thank the support from the China Scholarship Council and Neng Wang from the University College Cork.Peer ReviewedElsevier20262026-06-0120262026-04-29journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2117/461077https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2025.08.003reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPCinstname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:dnet:upcommonspor::e1783905fc5ee1c659d013cc0ae6656a2026-05-27T15:37:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Sealant performance and leakage mechanisms in shield tunnels with T-joint effects: A pathfinding-based approach integrating contact stress analysis
title Sealant performance and leakage mechanisms in shield tunnels with T-joint effects: A pathfinding-based approach integrating contact stress analysis
spellingShingle Sealant performance and leakage mechanisms in shield tunnels with T-joint effects: A pathfinding-based approach integrating contact stress analysis
Xie, Jiachong
Shield tunnel
T-joint
Gasketed joint
Sealant performance
Localised leakage
Offset
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Informàtica teòrica::Algorísmica i teoria de la complexitat
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Geotècnia::Túnels i excavacions
title_short Sealant performance and leakage mechanisms in shield tunnels with T-joint effects: A pathfinding-based approach integrating contact stress analysis
title_full Sealant performance and leakage mechanisms in shield tunnels with T-joint effects: A pathfinding-based approach integrating contact stress analysis
title_fullStr Sealant performance and leakage mechanisms in shield tunnels with T-joint effects: A pathfinding-based approach integrating contact stress analysis
title_full_unstemmed Sealant performance and leakage mechanisms in shield tunnels with T-joint effects: A pathfinding-based approach integrating contact stress analysis
title_sort Sealant performance and leakage mechanisms in shield tunnels with T-joint effects: A pathfinding-based approach integrating contact stress analysis
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Xie, Jiachong
Molins i Borrell, Climent|||0000-0001-8292-0473
Huang, Xin
Zixin, Zhang
Wang, Jinchang
author Xie, Jiachong
author_facet Xie, Jiachong
Molins i Borrell, Climent|||0000-0001-8292-0473
Huang, Xin
Zixin, Zhang
Wang, Jinchang
author_role author
author2 Molins i Borrell, Climent|||0000-0001-8292-0473
Huang, Xin
Zixin, Zhang
Wang, Jinchang
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Shield tunnel
T-joint
Gasketed joint
Sealant performance
Localised leakage
Offset
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Informàtica teòrica::Algorísmica i teoria de la complexitat
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Geotècnia::Túnels i excavacions
topic Shield tunnel
T-joint
Gasketed joint
Sealant performance
Localised leakage
Offset
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Informàtica teòrica::Algorísmica i teoria de la complexitat
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Geotècnia::Túnels i excavacions
description T-joints represent a critical yet distinct structural feature in shield tunnels, exhibiting fundamentally different sealant performance and leakage behaviours compared to continuous joints. This study presents a novel pathfinding algorithm-based approach integrating contact stress analysis to evaluate localised sealant behaviour and leakage mechanisms affected by T-joints under various deformation patterns. The approach enables simultaneous assessment of waterproof capacity and identification of potential leakage paths. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated by comparing with laboratory testing data. It is further demonstrated that the waterproof capacity of T-joints can be effectively characterised by an ellipsoid function accounting for joint offset and openings in both circumferential and longitudinal directions. Joint offset substantially reduces waterproof capacity and creates localised lift-up areas with critically low contact stress due to gasket-to-groove interaction. Longitudinal joint openings exhibit less impact on waterproofing performance compared to circumferential openings, with residual sealing capacity maintained even at full opening displacement. A newly proposed leakage centralisation ratio reveals four distinct leakage regions, whose formation depends on joint-specific contact behaviour governed by opening and offset parameters. These insights provide a quantitative basis for optimising T-joint design in shield tunnels, with particular relevance for waterproofing system performance under complex loading conditions.
publishDate 2026
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2026
2026-06-01
2026
2026-04-29
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2117/461077
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2025.08.003
url https://hdl.handle.net/2117/461077
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2025.08.003
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
instname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
instname_str Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
reponame_str UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
collection UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,812429

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