A digital twin approach for tunnel construction safety early warning and management

Accidents tend to happen during tunnel construction due to the harsh environmental and geological conditions. Towards high safety risk during tunnel construction, a digital-twin based multi-information intelligent early warning and safety management platform is proposed in this study. At first, a communication line is built inside tunnel through multifunctional base stations. Multi-source information from tunnel construction could be collected and transmitted automatically. Then, dynamic tunnel construction information and surrounding rock conditions are virtual simulated. Meanwhile, four-level early warning and emergency response plan are built to provide judgement on the construction status. At last, application effects of the platform are validated in a deep buried tunnel project, Dongtianshan Tunnel in China, which has extreme weather, harmful gas, and bad geological conditions. A collapse accident of tunnel excavation face was successfully predicted by the platform. Early warning and appropriate emergency measures were taken in time, and the personnel safety was ensured.

Automated summary

A digital-twin based multi-information intelligent early warning and safety management platform is proposed to address high safety risks during tunnel construction. The platform establishes a communication line inside the tunnel to automatically collect and transmit multi-source information. It also simulates dynamic tunnel construction information and surrounding rock conditions, and builds a four-level early warning and emergency response plan for construction status judgment. The platform's application was validated in the Dongtianshan Tunnel project in China, successfully predicting a collapse accident and ensuring personnel safety through early warning and appropriate emergency measures.