From microseismic monitoring to targeted reinforcement: a data-driven simulation approach for deep tunnel stability

Abstract

Deep hard-rock tunnels are highly susceptible to localized rock mass damage under the coupling effects of high in-situ stress and blasting disturbances during construction. The complex spatio-temporal evolution of such damage makes real-time identification and mitigation challenging. Taking a specific deep-seated hard-rock tunnel as the engineering background, this study develops a method for characterizing energy-induced damage and analyzing dynamic support under localized damage conditions, primarily utilizing three-dimensional numerical simulations integrated with microseismic monitoring and acoustic testing data. By establishing a quantitative relationship between energy dissipation and the degradation of rock mass mechanical parameters, a dynamic update of the damage evolution process within the numerical model is achieved. Simultaneously, acoustic testing is employed to characterize the damage zoning and spatial distribution, providing a benchmark for the numerical results. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of damage, energy response patterns, and their sensitivity to variations in support parameters are analyzed. The results indicate that: (1) Rock mass damage exhibits pronounced asymmetry, with high-damage zones concentrated at the right shoulder, which plays a dominant role in energy accumulation and crack propagation. The overall damage primarily develops within a range of 5 ∼ 16 m from the tunnel wall. (2) The damage field derived from microseismic analysis agrees well with the acoustic testing results, revealing a highly damaged excavation zone extending approximately 1.2 m; (3) A rapid increase in cumulative energy and apparent volume, accompanied by a decrease in the energy index, can serve as effective precursors of accelerated damage evolution; and (4) The combined support scheme outperforms single-parameter reinforcement measures, reducing the peak damage variable from 1.0 to 0.45 and significantly shrinking the extent of the damage-affected zone.