In recent years

tunnel engineering is developing towards super-long and deep

multi-field and multi-phase coupling

thus

which easily induce the structural instability during tunnel construction and operation. Aiming at the mountain tunnel

underwater tunnel and urban tunnel

this paper expounds the research status of structural model test system

and points out the existing issues. The results show that: mountain tunnel model test takes into account passing through the adverse geological rock

and the loading conditions such as high ground stress

high karst hydraulic pressure and high seismic intensity. However

it’s hard to simulate the high stress of surrounding rock due to the size limitation of the apparatus. The model test of mountain tunnel is mainly based on plane strain model

which lacks the simulation of active fault with various dislocation forms under large-scale true three-dimensional stress condition. The model test of underwater tunnel has achieved stable high water pressure loading

but it is still unable to simulate the true three-dimensional underwater environment of the coupled stress field and seepage field. Additionally

the visibility of the chamber is poor

the seepage of the tunnel is only be characterized by the water inflow at the entrance

which makes it difficult to obtain the deformation law of the surrounding rock. Urban tunnel is affected by train dynamic load

pavement load and adjacent construction disturbance. At present

the model test usually considers the vibration response of the tunnel under a single load

and often ignores the structural characteristics such as segment joints and cracks. Thus

it is necessary to design novel and efficient local loading device to analyze the ultimate deformation characteristics of weak parts of segment to ensure the safety of subway operation. Finally

the bottleneck issues of tunnel engineering model test are summarized

and the internal visualization of the apparatus needs to be improved based on transparent similar materials. Aiming at the adverse geological conditions under high geostress conditions

a three-dimensional static-dynamic coupled model test system with expandable size is developed. Combining with the micro low-power wireless monitoring sensors and 3D visualization results display platform

a tunnel engineering structure model test system suitable for complex environment is established.