Abstract—By a quick look at the states, it can be realized that many cities in the world with rapid and considerable growth suffer from three key problems including road safety, air pollution and urban traffic management [6]. Due to the reasoning ability, humans have always looked forward the best environment and comfort and therefore tried to find operational solutions to solve these problems. So, one of the fundamental steps in this direction is construction of safe and reliable buildings and structures Accordingly, in this paper, attempt has been made to develop a simplified procedure in which the equivalent static method, the vertical and horizontal seismic loading as well as the effect of soil-tunnel interaction have been studied. The results of this study although can model the behavioral characteristics of the tunnel and surrounding soil, do not have any certain complexity and can easily be used for analyzing the transportation tunnels under earthquake loads. Keywords—Urban transport, interaction of soil–tunnel, tunnel response, racking stiffness, ductility, shear strain I. INTRODUCTION rban transportation has been always considered as a key issue in urban and regional studies. But it can be mentioned that while transportation is the key configuration and skeleton in the efficiency and success of cities, nowadays, with the spread of urbanization phenomenon, especially in developing countries present transportation capacity is not sufficient for people demands [2]. Thus with the development of urbanization, transportation does not meet the urban traffic needs of people. However, the rapid growth of metropolitan cities in the world with the increasing population has caused several problems including traffic problems and disruption to the transport system within the city. Hence, the problem has been one of the fundamental challenges facing urban planning in the late twentieth century that has affected the sustainable urban development. While one of the features and characteristics of the desirable urban environment are the easy, Seyed J. Faraji is with the Landscape Architecture Department, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China (corresponding author; phone: +86- 15861814115; fax: +86-25-85428752; e-mail: f.jallalfaraji@yahoo.com). Zhang Qingping is with the Landscape Architecture Department, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China (e-mail: qpzh@njfu.edu.cn). Mahdi Shadab Far is with the Civil and Transportation Engineering Department, Hohai University, Nanjing, China (e-mail: mahdishadabfar@yahoo.com). Hadi Kordestani is with the Civil and Transportation Engineering Department, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China (e-mail: eng.kordestani@gmail.com) Seyed Y. Faraji is with Engineering and Technology Department, Islamic Azad Yasuj University, yaghob_faraji@yahoo.com fast and reliable access of citizens to the various parts of the city [17]. So we can say that the relationship between transport planning and urban planning should be considered important from the perspective of contemporary urban management. Urban areas are responsible to service the economic and social needs of their residents and transportation system is the most essential factor. Since about 25% of world energy consumption is in the transportation within the city, the transportation is one of the major concerns in the sustainability of cities [9]. One of the most important issues that play a role in the sustainability of cities is the systematic conduct of urban traffic. The city managers taking advantage of the new engineering capabilities have tried to contribute the human society using the concrete structures such as tunnel and provide a more sustainable urban development. Apart from the fact that the structure can be lead to a mass graveyard in a very large cost due to the incorrect monitoring in natural disasters like earthquakes. Therefore, a careful review and analysis of these structures can avoid many problems. Hence, the aim of this study was to present a simple method for the dynamical analysis of transportation tunnels in front of earthquake and its importance for urban management system. So that it would be easier to face one of the most important structures of urban transportation in today's world. II. IMPORTANCE OF SEISMIC ANALYSIS Action and communication are the foundations of the human society and this principle highlights its place more and more in today’s world. In a world where communication has an important role, undoubtedly there are ways to make these connections. Apparently, the human societies are based on the urban framework and its systematic systems while the dominant communication lines form the highways of each city. Those lines start from the highways and introduce the narrow streets to the human community. In this century, the technology is developing so rapidly and the transportation is like a vital artery which its weaknesses will hinder the daily life and economic, political, social and cultural activities [14]. Besides transportation, working and spending the spare time is regarded as one of the four basic functions [11]. The management system in cities must be considered the healthy and sustainable transportation. In this regard, one of the measures that have been performed in the urban management systems in order to face the transportation flow is taking advantage of the new engineering in urban areas. One of the aspects of this engineering is the A Simplified Method for the Seismic Analysis of Urban Transportation Tunnels Seyed J. Faraji, Zhang Qingping, Mahdi Shadab Far, and Hadi Kordestani, Seyed Y. Faraji U INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY Volume 8, 2014 ISSN: 1998-4499 65