1. Introduction
Ground fissures are a phenomenon of rock–soil surface rupture [
1,
2,
3,
4]. Ground fissures are widely distributed in China, and more than 5000 ground fissures have been found in over 4000 locations [
5], mostly in the North China Plain, Fenwei Basin, Su-Xi-Chang, and other areas [
6,
7,
8]. Many high-speed railways under construction and proposed inevitably cross these ground fissure development areas in China, such as Jing’shi (Beijing–Shijiazhuang), Jing’hu (Beijing–Shanghai), Da’xi (Datong–Xi’an), and other high-speed railways [
9]. When crossing ground fissure areas, they are easily affected by complex geological engineering conditions [
10,
11]. Under the train vibration load, the strength of loose rock and soil mass in the ground fissure zone is reduced and triggers uneven settlement, which affects the stability of the high-speed railway and has a negative impact on the safe operation of the train [
12]. Therefore, it is necessary to study the dynamic response of the high-speed railway foundation under the train vibration load in the ground fissure zone.
Existing engineering phenomena show that the engineering structures crossing the ground fissures can be seriously damaged, including cracking of the subway tunnel lining, distortion and deformation of underground pipelines, uneven settlement of the expressway, and so on [
13,
14]. Previous scholars have conducted related research on these aspects and believe that the shear dislocation is the main failure mode of the active ground fissures to the traffic lines, which causes the deformation and cracking of the structures at the hanging wall and footwall under the corresponding compressive and tensile stress. Meanwhile, for the small angle crossing, the failure mode of bend–shear–torsion will appear [
15].
At present, research on dynamic response under train vibration load mainly focuses on three methods: field tests [
16], numerical simulation [
17,
18,
19,
20,
21,
22,
23,
24], and model tests [
25,
26]. Vega et al. conducted acceleration response tests on high-speed railway subgrades and studied the dynamic response characteristics of culverts, which provided a reference for the design of a high-speed railway [
27,
28]. Yu Cai et al. took the test section of a cement-improved expansive soil embankment as the research object. The multi-condition cyclic vibration test was carried out, and the distribution rules of stress, acceleration, and displacement at different positions of subgrade were analyzed [
29]. Yao Shan et al. established the finite–infinite element model of plane stress in the transition zone between the subgrade and bridge of a high-speed railway. The influence of subgrade materials on the subgrade dynamic response in the transition zone of a slab track high-speed railway was studied. It was considered that the dynamic elastic modulus of graded crushed stone has greater influence on the vibration response of vehicle systems than that of the surface layer of the subgrade bed [
30]. Jin Chen et al. established a three-dimensional dynamic finite element analysis model of a double-line high-speed railway under train vibration load, and the vertical stress distribution on the subgrade surface under different train speeds and line modes was proposed [
31]. Ishikawa T. carried out a model test on a ballasted track with a geometric scale of 1:5 and studied the law of dynamic response and the cumulative deformation of subgrade filler under the train cyclic load [
32]. Chong Lei Zhang et al. conducted a full-scale model test on lime-stabilized weathered red mudstone subgrade by using a cyclic loading device. The dynamic response and cumulative settlement characteristics of this kind of subgrade were studied and its adaptability was determined [
33].
In general, a series of studies have been performed on the vibration response of the track structure–embankment–foundation under train vibration load, and fruitful research results have been achieved. However, there are few studies on the dynamic response of the high-speed railway foundation under train vibration in the ground fissure site, and the interaction between the high-speed railway foundation and the train vibration in the cross-ground fissure is not clear.
The Da’xi high-speed railway which crosses the ground fissures in the Taiyuan Basin of Shanxi Province is taken as the engineering background in this study. A three-dimensional numerical model of the high-speed railway crossing the ground fissure was established. The dynamic response of the foundation was studied. The research results provide a reference for the design, construction, and safe operation of a high-speed railway in the ground fissure environment.
2. Engineering Background
The starting point of the Datong–Xi’an high-speed railway is Datong, Shanxi, and the endpoint is Xi’an, Shaanxi (
Figure 1a) [
34]. The total length of the line is 859 km, with it being a passenger-dedicated line. The number of trains per day is 88 pairs. The average speed is 250 km/h, and the maximum speed is no more than 350 km/h. It passes through the Cenozoic rift basin—Taiyuan Basin, where faults are greatly developed. The overexploitation of groundwater in the Taiyuan Basin has promoted the activities of these fissures controlled by tectonism. Based on the investigation, there are 107 ground fissures in the Taiyuan Basin and 21 along the Da’xi railway line. Most of the ground fissures have a large extension length, with some exceeding 20 km. Among them, the maximum deviation of the ground fissure (TY3) at the Dongguan substation is 0.45 m, and the vertical activity rate of ground fissures is 3–4 cm/year. The overall strike of the TY3 ground fissure is 73°, its inclination is 163°, the dip angle is 80° (
Figure 1b), and it is banded or beaded. The maximum surface displacement is about 45 cm (
Figure 1c), and the maximum pit diameter is 1.2 m, the maximum width of the horizontal displacement is 1 m (
Figure 1d) [
35]. The TY3 ground fissure is active in sections, mainly vertical dislocation and horizontal tension (
Figure 1e). With the drop in groundwater level, the influence scope and activity of ground fissures may be further intensified. It is predicted that the ground fissures are highly active and dangerous to the line. In this paper, the dynamic response analysis of the composite foundation of the high-speed railway crossing the ground fissure zone is carried out with the active TY3 ground fissures as the engineering background.
5. Discussion
It is an effective means to solve a disaster by crossing the unavoidable ground fissure at a large angle and selecting the appropriate composite foundation design. To verify the contribution of the composite foundation parameters to the optimization effect, the variance analysis of the numerical simulation results was carried out using the orthogonal test. Four factors, namely the elastic modulus A of the subgrade bed (only considering the bottom layer of the subgrade bed), the elastic modulus B of the embankment, the thickness C of the concrete baseplate, and the pile length D, were selected to analyze the impact on the dynamic response of the composite foundation in the ground fissure site, without considering the interaction between the factors. Each factor has four levels. The levels of influencing factor A are A1, A2, A3, and A4. Similar notation is adopted for B, C, and D. The table of influencing factor levels is shown in
Table 6. In this paper, four factors and four levels of tests were used to optimize the parameters of the composite foundation. Orthogonal test table L
16(4
5) was selected, and a column of error terms was added (
Table 7).
In the variance analysis, the significance level is taken as 0.10, 0.05, and 0.01 [
45]. To explain the significance criterion, the influencing factor A is taken as an example. Let the F value of influencing factor A be
FA;
n1 and
n2 are degrees of freedom for influencing factors and errors, respectively. The significance criteria for influencing factors are shown in
Table 8.
In this test, the degrees of freedom of influencing factors n1 = 3 and the degrees of freedom of error n2 = 3. Therefore, based on the F distribution table, F0.01(3,3) = 29.46, F0.05(3,3) = 9.28, and F0.10(3,3) = 5.39.
As shown in
Table 9,
Table 10 and
Table 11, it can be observed that the pile length has a significant impact on the displacement and stress response difference of the hanging wall and footwall of the ground fissure site. The concrete baseplate thickness has a significant impact on the acceleration response difference and has a generally significant impact on the displacement and stress response difference, and the other factors have no significant impact on the evaluation indicators.
6. Conclusions
- (1)
The displacement, acceleration, and stress are basically stable at the hanging wall and footwall under the train vibration load but fluctuate at the position of the ground fissure, which specifically reflects that the displacement and acceleration increase at the hanging wall and decrease at the footwall.
- (2)
The pile–raft structure of the composite foundation can effectively alleviate the foundation instability problem caused by the vibration load of the ground fissure site. Specifically, the side friction and axial force of the CFG pile in the hanging wall of the composite foundation are smaller than the footwall. Longitudinally, the jumping and fluctuation of displacement, acceleration, and stress in the composite foundation are weakened at the ground fissure site.
- (3)
The influence range of displacement and stress increases as the diagonal angle θ decreases. It is suggested that the high-speed railway pass through the ground fissure at a large angle when it cannot avoid the ground fissure zone. The pile length has the greatest influence on the displacement response and the dynamic stress response between the hanging wall and footwall of the ground fissure, and the concrete baseplate thickness has the greatest influence on the acceleration response of the subgrade. The risk of ground fissure disaster can be controlled by increasing the pile length.
The dynamic response of the foundation in the ground fissure site under train vibration load is very complicated. The dynamic response behavior of the Da’xi high-speed railway crossing the ground fissure zone in the Taiyuan Basin was studied using numerical simulation and orthogonal tests in this paper. The design parameters of the composite foundation in the ground fissure site were optimized. The research results provide new ideas and methods for studying the engineering stability of high-speed railways crossing the ground fissure zone worldwide. However, there are still some problems worth exploring, as follows:
The interaction mechanisms between different types of ground fissures and train vibration load are different. It is unclear what protective measures should be taken for each type of ground fissure. Therefore, based on this study, the relationship between ground fissure types and train vibration loads can be further discussed, and reasonable prevention suggestions and measures for each type of ground fissure can be provided.