Quantitative assessment on the reinforcing behavior of the CFRP-PCM method on tunnel linings

In this paper, the carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) grids embedded in polymer cement mortar (PCM) shotcrete (CFRP-PCM method) was conducted to repair the degraded tunnel linings with a cavity. Subsequently, the reinforcing effect of the CFRP-PCM method under different degrees of lining deterioration was quantitatively evaluated. Finally, the limit state design method of the M-N interaction curve was conducted to determine whether the structure reinforced by the CFRP-PCM method is in a safe state. The main results indicated that when the cavity is at the shoulder, the lining damage rate is more serious. In addition, the remarkably reinforcing effect on the degraded tunnel linings could be achieved by applying a higher grade of CFRP grids, whereas the optimization effect is no longer obvious when the grade of CFRP grids is too high (CR8); Furthermore, it is found that the M-N numerical values of the ten reinforcing designs of the CFRP-PCM method are distributed outside the corresponding M-N theoretical interaction curves, and these designs should be avoided in the corresponding reinforcing engineering.