Analysis of air-inflated rubber dam for flood-fighting at the subway entrance

Abstract

The air-inflated rubber dam is innovatively adopted in this paper for temporary flood-fighting at the subway entrance. Numerical studies using the FLAC2D software are carried out to investigate the behavior of the proposed structure. Laboratory model tests are also conducted to verify the accuracy of the numerical model. The results from the model tests agree well with those from the numerical analysis. Parametric studies are carried out to investigate the influences of the external floodwater head, inflated air pressure, and anchor position on the performance of the proposed air-inflated rubber dam. It is found that the external floodwater head reduces the tensile force but nonlinearly increases the height of the rubber dam. The inflated air pressure has no obvious effect on the cross-section of the rubber dam but heavily influences the ultimate flood-fighting height and tensile force. An optimum design line for the inflated air pressure of the rubber dam is provided. A deeper anchor position results in a smaller ultimate flood-fighting height. A rubber dam design with a lower anchor depth that has to satisfy the requirements of the anchor bolt is therefore concluded.