Roof collapse of shallow tunnels with limit analysis method

A new failure mechanism is proposed to analyze the roof collapse based on nonlinear failure criterion. Limit analysis approach and variational principle are used to obtain analytical findings concerning the stability of potential roof. Then, parametric study is carried out to derive the change rule of corresponding parameters on the influence of collapsing shape, which is of paramount engineering significance to instruct the tunnel excavations. In comparison with existing results, the findings show agreement and validity of the proposed method. The actual collapse in certain shallow tunnels is well in accordance with the proposed failure mechanism.