Tunnels are constructed to resolve sewerage and transportation problems and may pass
under or near existing buildings. Construction of shallow tunnels in urban areas can result
in significant ground movement and could damage the function of civil engineering
structures if care is not undertaken. On the other hand, building of structures above
existing tunnels could lead to an increase in the stresses within the soil mass, which in
turn could increase stresses transferred to and deformation of the tunnel lining. The
interaction between the surface footings and underground tunnels depends upon several
factors including the relative dimensions of the surface footings and tunnel as well as
depth and eccentricity of the proposed tunnel. This paper presents the results of numerical
and experimental investigations undertaken to explore the interaction between surface
loading and underground tunnels. Experimental results indicated that the deformation of
the tunnel lining is significantly influenced by the pressure exerted on the surface
footings. A finite element code “ABAQUS" is utilised to simulate the interaction
between a surface footing and an underground tunnel. Results of the numerical
simulations seem along the lines of the experimental ones.