Conservation of historical buildings in tunneling environments: Case study of Wuhan metro construction in China

摘要

This paper presents a holistic approach to the conservation of historical buildings adjacent to tunnel excavations, in which health conditions of historical buildings, safety risk assessment, numerical simulation analyses, corresponding conservation measures and implementation effects are incorporated as main procedures. The potential safety risk of a specific historical building in tunneling environments is initially assessed within four different risk levels, with building health conditions (vulnerability component) and the proximity condition (hazard component) taken into account. The assessed safety risk level then acts as a decisive role in the depth of the subsequent numerical analyses, aiming to achieve a fine balance between system safety and cost constraints when analyzing the tunnel-induced damage to historical buildings. A case relating to the protection of a two-story brick-wood historical building, Roots' formal residence (RFR), adjacent to a metro tunnel, Wuhan Yangtze River Tunnel (WYRT) in China, is presented. The impact of the tunnel excavation on the distribution of the equivalent stress and principal stress is further analyzed in detail. Results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach, as well as its application potential. The proposed approach can be used by practitioners in the industry to provide positive guidelines on the safety management of historical buildings against tunnel-induced damages. At the same time, the analysis cost can be greatly reduced, especially when a large number of historical buildings adjacent to tunnel excavations need to be protected. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.