Design of rock tunnels can be performed in accordance with the Eurocode, which allows that different design methodologies are applied, such as design by calculation or design using the observational method. To account for uncertainties in design, the Eurocode states that design by calculation should primarily be performed using the partial factor method or reliability-based methods. The basic principle of both of these methods is that it shall be assured that a structure’s resisting capacity is larger than the load acting on the structure, with sufficiently high probability. Even if this might seem straightforward, the practical application of limit state design to rock tunnel support has only been studied to a limited extent.

The research presented in this report focuses on the above and was performed between the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2020 at the Division of Soil and Rock Mechanics, Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden and is in much a copy of the doctoral thesis by the author.

The doctoral work was supervised by Fredrik Johansson, Stefan Larsson, and Johan Spross. Many of the underlying reports was co-written with Anders Prästings, Andreas Sjölander and. Håkan Stille. The input from the reference group that included Tommy Ellison, Mats Holmberg, Diego Mas Ivars, Cecilia Montelius, Jonny Sjöberg, Håkan Stille, Robert Sturk, Per Tengborg, and Lars-Olof Dahlström, is gratefully acknowledged.

The work herein presented was funded by BeFo, SBUF, SVC, SKB and KTH.

Stockholm

Patrik Vidstrand