In this study, a new concept for simulating a physical damage of tunnel shotcrete lining due to a long-term chemical deterioration has been proposed. It is known that the damage takes place mainly by internal cracks, reduction of stiffness and strength, which results mainly from volume expansion of the lining and corrosion of cement materials, respectively. This damage mechanism of shotcrete lining appears similar in most kinds of chemical reactions in tunnels. Therefore, the mechanical deterioration mechanism induced by a series of chemical reactions was generalized in this study and mathematically formulated in the framework of thermodynamics. The numerical model was implemented to a 3D finite element code, which can be used to simulate behaviour of tunnel structures undergoing external loads as well as chemical deterioration in time. A number of illustrative examples were given to show a feasibility of the model in tunnel designs.