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Effectiveness of a buttress wall in reducing retaining wall movement during dewatering before bulk excavation

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Abstract

Retaining wall movements are often estimated from a datum at the start of soil excavation. However, recent studies indicate that significant wall movements may occur during pre-excavation dewatering. In this study, the effectiveness of a buttress wall (that is, a short length of wall at 90° to the main wall) in limiting wall movement during pre-excavation dewatering is investigated numerically, focusing in particular on the buttress wall length (LB). Results indicate that wall movement decreases as LB increases. However, a smaller LB (less than 50% of the excavation width) may be sufficient if the drawdown or pumped depth is small (less than 30% of the total depth of retaining wall). With drawdowns greater than 60% of the total wall depth, a larger LB (greater than 75% of the excavation width) is needed to effectively control the deformation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Numbers 51708206 and 51978261], the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [Grant Number 2019T120797], the China Scholarship Council [Grant Number 201808430270], the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province [Grant Numbers 2020JJ5193 and 2020JJ4300], the Research Foundation of Education Bureau of Hunan Province [Grant Numbers 20A190 and 17B097] and the Systematic Project of Guangxi Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Structural Safety [Grant Number 2019ZDK007]. Finally, we deeply appreciate for the warm and efficient work by editors and reviewers.

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  1. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Geotechnical Engineering for Stability Control and Health Monitoring, School of Civil Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, Hunan, China

    Chao-Feng Zeng, Xiu-Li Xue & Miao-Kun Li

  2. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Engineering Safety, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, Guangxi, China

    Chao-Feng Zeng & Guo-Xiong Mei

  3. Infrastructure Research Group, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

    William Powrie

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  1. Chao-Feng Zeng
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Zeng, CF., Powrie, W., Xue, XL. et al. Effectiveness of a buttress wall in reducing retaining wall movement during dewatering before bulk excavation. Acta Geotech. 16, 3253–3267 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-021-01179-9

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