Many problems are encountered in the construction of bifurcated tunnels due the abrupt change in section, small clear distance, and large section. Progress in the direction of tunnel construction is limited by the large-span section; therefore, a special method of construction that involves constructing a guiding tunnel first followed by reverse excavation was adopted to construct the large-span bifurcation section of the Liantang tunnel of Shenzhen Eastern Transit Expressway in China. The stability criterion of the surrounding rock of the middle wall in the section of multiple arch and small clear distance is studied by theoretical analysis, and the internal stress and corresponding ultimate strength of the middle wall under different buried depths and widths of the middle wall are calculated by the stability criterion. In this study, 3D finite-difference software was used to simulate the excavation process under forward and reverse excavation conditions. The results show that the displacement field and internal force field distribution are similar for both excavation methods, and the tunneling first and reverse excavation construction method is safe and reliable.

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Highway tunnel group has the characteristics of large span and small spacing, and the load distribution characteristics of surrounding rock between each tunnel section are complex. Based on geological prospecting data and numerical analysis software, the stress distribution characteristics along the characteristic section and the profile of the tunnel group were obtained. Taking Shenzhen Nanlong complex interchange tunnel group project as an example, the results show that (1) the excavation area of Qiaocheng main tunnel gradient section is large, and the grade of surrounding rock is poor, which leads to the phenomenon of large-area stress concentration on the right wall of this section. (2) The tunnels in the joint construction section of the tunnel group belong to the stress concentration area, and the influence of the right line excavation of Qiaocheng on the stability of the main tunnel of the right line of Baopeng is greater than that of the main tunnel of the left line of Baopeng. (3) The stress concentration of surrounding rock in the intersection section between the main tunnel and the ramp is caused by the too small distance between the main tunnel and the ramp of Baopeng. (4) The distance between the partitions in the K3 + 240 multiarch section of Qiaocheng is an important factor affecting the stability of the surrounding rock of the cave.

The insulation layer is usually installed in the tunnel structure, whereas the influence of the insulation layer on the thermal behavior of energy tunnel ground heat exchangers (GHEs) is rarely investigated. The model tests were performed in this study to evaluate the heat transfer potential of the energy tunnel with the insulation layer under ventilation and groundwater seepage. The results can be obtained as follows: first, the fluctuations of air temperature and surrounding rock temperature at different locations are relevant to insulation layer, ventilation, and groundwater seepage. Second, the reduction effect of ventilation on the interface temperature of tunnel lining and surrounding rock is alleviated when using an insulation layer, and the interface temperature at upstream section of groundwater seepage is more easily affected by the energy tunnel GHEs. Third, the variation range of ground temperature is wider at the downstream section of groundwater flow. Moreover, the heat exchange rates of tunnel without the insulation layer improve by 5.82% and 6.45% with increasing wind speed at two groundwater flow velocities of 1 × 10 − 4 and 5 × 10 − 4  m/s, and there are only 2.03% and 0.77% enhancements of heat exchange rates by ventilation for the tunnel with the insulation layer. However, the thermal performance of the energy tunnel improved by groundwater is less relevant to the existence of the insulation layer. The relevant findings can provide an effective guidance for the following research and design of the energy tunnel.

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