Abstract
The tunnel boring machine (TBM) is a core equipment for mountain tunnel engineering, but it often faces problems such as surrounding rock deformation, collapse, and TBM entrapment when crossing fault fracture zones. Taking the TBM crossing of F1 fault in the Pilot Tunnel of Daliangshan No.1 Tunnel as the engineering case, this study adopted a combined method of laboratory tests, numerical simulation, and field monitoring to clarify the deformation characteristics of surrounding rock during TBM’s passage through the fault fracture zone, and proposed and verified effective reinforcement measures. The results show that the tunnel deformation in the F1 fault zone presents a "larger in the middle and smaller at both ends" pattern. When tunneling reached the fault core area, the maximum vertical vault settlement was 92 mm and the maximum ground settlement was 42 mm, with the vault settlement response occurring earlier than the sidewall springline deformation. Away from the fault zone, the stress release of surrounding rock stabilized, with a settlement increment of less than 5 mm. The comprehensive reinforcement system proposed for problems such as fractured surrounding rock in the fault zone and insufficient gripper shoe bearing capacity achieved remarkable effects. After reinforcement, the maximum vertical vault settlement and ground settlement of all monitored sections were reduced to approximately 17 mm and 7 mm, respectively, decreasing by 79.3% and 83.3% compared with those before reinforcement. This effectively mitigated construction risks and ensured continuous TBM advancement. The research findings can provide data support and technical reference for TBM construction in mountain tunnels under similar "weathered rock + fault fracture zone" conditions.
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The datasets generated and/or analyzed in the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We sincerely acknowledge the financial support from the National Key R&D Program of China (2024YFF050790201) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52178397, 52478420).
Funding
This work was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(2024YFF050790201), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China(52178397, 52478420).
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Fuan Lan : Writing – original draft, Visualization, Conceptualization, Investigation. Wenrui Du : Data curation. Ruihan Li : Methodology. Chuan He : Supervision, Funding acquisition. Junyang He : Investigation. Jian Yan : Visualization, Funding acquisition.
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Lan, F., Du, W., Li, R. et al. Research on surrounding rock deformation characteristics and support optimization measures for tunnel TBM crossing through fault fracture zones. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35748-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35748-3
