Safety state evaluation method of the highway tunnel structure

Area of Science:

• Civil Engineering
• Structural Safety Assessment
• Risk Analysis

Background:

• Assessing expressway tunnel structural safety is complex due to multiple influencing indicators.
• Human bounded rationality introduces imprecision in safety evaluations.
• Existing methods may not fully capture the uncertainty and subjective nature of safety assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel evaluation method for expressway tunnel structural safety.
• To integrate possibility and prospect theories to handle uncertainty and expert judgment.
• To provide a practical and effective tool for assessing highway tunnel structural integrity.

Main Methods:

• Constructing probability distributions for tunnel safety levels.
• Deriving reference distribution functions using expert expected values.
• Applying possibility theory to obtain possibility distributions of monitoring indicators.
• Developing a mapping relationship between indicators and safety status grades.
• Utilizing prospect theory for the final safety status evaluation.

Main Results:

• The proposed method effectively evaluates the structural safety of expressway tunnels.
• It successfully incorporates the influence of multiple indicators and human imprecision.
• A case study demonstrated the method's effectiveness and practicality.

Conclusions:

• The study offers a new, robust method for expressway tunnel structural safety evaluation.
• The integration of possibility and prospect theories enhances the reliability of safety assessments.
• This approach provides valuable insights for tunnel maintenance and risk management.