A novel dynamic impact pressure model of debris flows and its application on reliability analysis of the rock mass surrounding tunnels

Assessing the influence of the impact pressure exerted on surrounding rock mass by potential debris flows is one of the challenges in a mountain tunnel construction project. This paper proposes an effective mathematical model for the assessment of impact pressure exerted by debris flows on obstacles. The characteristics of the new model are analyzed, and the parameters determination method for the new model are deduced. Also, a new method for dynamic reliability analysis of the rock mass surrounding tunnels is proposed and is constituted into three key steps. First, by inputting impact pressure of debris flows generated by the aforementioned new model, the FLAC3D is used as the dynamic analysis engine to obtain the time-varying stress distribution of surrounding rock mass during the impact of debris flow. Second, the factor of safety (FOS) contours of surrounding rock mass are generated based on element states using the maximum tensile stress criterion and the Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion. Third, by using the time-varying contours of the FOS, a failure probability and a reliability index are obtained from a reliability perspective. A case study shows the complete analysis process and confirms the effectiveness of the above methodology. In sum, this paper provides new ideas, new methods, and a reference example for evaluating the influence of dynamic impact exerted by debris flows on the rock mass surrounding tunnels.