Investigation into the Large Deformation Mechanism and Control Technology of Variable Cross-Section Tunnel in Layered Mudstone Stratum
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Improving the support of underground mining works and tunnels is a current topic of great interest.
The paper is well presented and argued. It is interesting that montmorillonite and illite are rocks with swelling properties and which in the presence of water develop deformation processes that are difficult to stop.
To increase the value of the work I will make some recommendations:
1. The final part of the introduction is more of a conclusion, so please rephrase;
2. Chapter no. 4 is recommended to be titled: Numerical modeling;
3. Chapter no. 5 is recommended to be titled: Monitoring;
4. The analysis part related to chapters 4 and 5 will be the subject of a new chapter no. 6 which is recommended to be titled: Discussions.
Otherwise the work is very valuable and with remarkable results.
Author Response
Dear editor and reviewers,
The authors would like to thank you very much for your positive comments and valuable suggestions, which are very helpful to guide the authors' rework on the manuscript. We have studied comments carefully and made some corrections, which we hope meet with approval. The main corrections in the paper and the responds to your comments are as follows:
Question 1: The final part of the introduction is more of a conclusion, so please rephrase;
Response: Thank you very much for your positive comments. In order to make readers better understand the main research content and purpose of this paper well, the author has rephrased the last paragraph of the introduction. For the specific modifications, please refer to the contents marked in red in introduction section on page 3 to 4 of the revised manuscript.
Question 2: Chapter no. 4 is recommended to be titled: Numerical modeling;
Response: Thanks for your valuable suggestions. In order to more intuitively express the research content of this chapter, the author has changed the title of Chapter no. 4 to “Numerical modeling”. For the specific modifications, please refer to the title marked in red on page 11 of the revised manuscript.
Question 3: Chapter no. 5 is recommended to be titled: Monitoring;
Response: Thanks for your valuable suggestions. In order to express the research content of this chapter more intuitively, the author has changed the title of Chapter no. 5 to “Monitoring”. For the specific modifications, please refer to the title marked in red on page 15 of the revised manuscript.
Question 4: The analysis part related to chapters 4 and 5 will be the subject of a new chapter no. 6 which is recommended to be titled: Discussions.
Response: Thanks for your valuable advises. Based on the result analysis of simulation and monitoring data, the discussions in Chapter no. 6 is added in this study. For the specific modifications, please refer to the content marked in red on page 20 of the revised manuscript.
Additionally, in order to improve the English quality of this paper and meet the standards of this journal, we employed an English editor to polish this paper. And we would like to try our best to improve the English until it meets the requirements. For the specific modifications, please refer to the content of the revised manuscript.
Thank you again for your detailed revision suggestions. We have tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the revised version. All changes are marked in red text. We hope that those changes lead to the acceptance of the manuscript, and look forward to hearing from you.
All in all, we sincerely show thanks for your time and good comments provided by the reviewers, and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Have a nice day!
Best regards
Shengyuan Fan and Zhanping Song, et al.
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors of the entitled manuscript "Investigation into the large deformation mechanism and control technology of variable cross-section tunnel in layered mudstone stratum" presented an FEA model supported by field data to evaluate the deformation and 117 stress evolution law of surrounding rock and supporting structure during actual construction. I found the paper covered comprehensive literature to support their analysis. Moreover, the methodology was executed excellently in the results section. Saying that I have the following comments:
Please add more information to the numerical simulation. For example, what is the time of the simulation and how to ensure the FEA results reach convergence? What is the validation of the mesh? What is the specification for the workstation? Add all this information under section 4.1.
Overall, it is a very good paper worth reading, but as an expert in the CFD and FEA, the article needs more information about that as it is the main part of the work. This should be reflected in the title too.
Author Response
Dear editor and reviewers,
The authors would like to thank you very much for your positive comments and valuable suggestions, which are very helpful to guide the authors' rework on the manuscript. We have studied comments carefully and made some corrections, which we hope meet with approval. The main corrections in the paper and the responds to your comments are as follows:
Question 1: Please add more information to the numerical simulation. For example, what is the time of the simulation and how to ensure the FEA results reach convergence? What is the validation of the mesh? What is the specification for the workstation? Add all this information under section 4.1.
Response: Thank you very much for your positive comments. In order to make the readers more clearly understand the modeling and simulation process of this study, the authors have supplemented the important information considered in the modeling and numerical simulation process. For the specific modifications, please refer to the content marked in red in section 4.1 on page 11 of the revised manuscript.
Question 2: Overall, it is a very good paper worth reading, but as an expert in the CFD and FEA, the article needs more information about that as it is the main part of the work. This should be reflected in the title too.
Response: Thank you very much for your valuable suggestions. In order to more intuitively reflect the main information such as the establishment, calculation and analysis of the numerical model, the author has modified and supplemented the relevant content. For the specific modifications, please refer to the title of Chapter 4 and section 4.1, and the content marked in red in section 4.1 on page 11 of the revised manuscript.
Additionally, in order to improve the English quality of this paper and meet the standards of this journal, we employed an English editor to polish this paper. And we would like to try our best to improve the English until it meets the requirements. For the specific modifications, please refer to the content of the revised manuscript.
Thank you again for your detailed revision suggestions. We have tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the revised version. All changes are marked in red text. We hope that those changes lead to the acceptance of the manuscript, and look forward to hearing from you.
All in all, we sincerely show thanks for your time and good comments provided by the reviewers, and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Have a nice day!
Best regards
Shengyuan Fan and Zhanping Song, et al.
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
I am happy with the revised version of this article.
