Abstract: When applying an engineering empirical method to mountain highway tunnels, some problems, such as difficulties in data collection, acquisition, and analysis, are often encountered. It is necessary to improve the design efficiency and quality of highway tunnels, and establish a system for tunnel design data records and use based on databases and computeraided design platforms. In this system, the achievements of existing tunnel designs are stored in the tunneldesign experience database. The design parameters in the database are calculated and analyzed according to the empirical methods, and the recommended supporting parameters are fed back to the designer. Meanwhile, new design parameters are stored in the experience database to automatically and dynamically enhance the design system. The research results show that: (1) The established informatized design system enhances the use efficiency of the existing tunnel engineering design and construction experience data, realizing the automatic feedback of tunnel support parameters, and improving the rationality of the design parameters. (2) The system can enhance the experience database and continuously improve the reliability of the support parameters in the experience database.

Key words: mountain highway tunnel, informatized design, computeraided design (CAD), engineering empirical method, database