An Improved Incremental Procedure for the Ground Reaction Based on Hoek-Brown Failure Criterion in the Tunnel Convergence-Confinement Method

The purpose of this study is to introduce the Hoek–Brown nonlinear failure criterion into the convergence–confinement method (CCM), which is based on the linear failure criterion, and implant it into the ground reaction curve (GRC) in this theory. Based on consistent and rigorous theoretical analysis and according to the mechanical relationships, the principle of equilibrium, the material constitutive law, and the strain/displacement compatibility equation are used to deduce the closed-form analytical solution of the stress/displacement of the rock mass in the plastic region and to complete the simulation and interpretation of the nonlinear behavior of surrounding rock due to the advancing excavation of a circular tunnel. In this paper, confinement loss is regarded as the concept of increment in numerical analysis, and the calculation process and analysis steps of the explicit analysis method (EAM) are proposed. This method can not only realize the calculation of analytical solutions but can also be performed using simple spreadsheets. In addition, to verify the feasibility of this calculation method, this study uses published data to verify the validity of the analytical solution implemented by the incremental procedure and to study the influence of nonlinear failure criteria on the GRC, especially the mechanical behavior at the intrados of the tunnel and the distributions of tress/displacement on the cross-section of the tunnel. A comparison between the published results and the proposed solution in this study reveals consistent and favorable trends.