Geological difficulties and countermeasures for socket diaphragm walls in weathered granite in Shenzhen, China

Abstract

In Shenzhen, a complex series of folds and fractures, and intensive metamorphism took place during the pre-Caledonian, Caledonian, and Hercynian to Indosinian orogenies. Then, Yanshanian orogeny, with the most tectonic movement, occurred. Strong invasive activity of granitic magma, a massive blowout of acidic volcanic rock, and magmatism-related mineralisation are the features of Yanshanian orogeny. Moreover, deep faults were also developed and wide folds were formed. A large amount of granite rock was formed from the Yanshanian orogeny in Shenzhen. The outcrop area of the granite in Shenzhen reaches 760 km², almost covers 50 % of Shenzhen land area. Granite is primarily susceptible to chemical weathering. Though weathered, granite and solitary granite boulders are of high uniaxial compressive strength (UCS). The weathered granite may be covered by Quaternary soil with low shear strength, such as backfill, sand, silty clay, and clay. The thickness of the Quaternary soil ranges from 0 to 40 m. Socket diaphragm walls are usually adopted during deep excavation construction in Shenzhen for their safety and low impact on the surrounding environment. When the excavation depth is increased, the socket diaphragm walls are embedded in weathered granite to a depth of between 3 and 10 m. However, the traditional socket diaphragm wall construction is only viable in soft ground, as it is not practical to penetrate hard weathered granite. As a consequence, difficulties arise during construction in the Shenzhen region, such as difficulty in breaking down the rock, socket diaphragm wall collapse and leakage. To solve these construction problems, countermeasures, such as monitoring, heavy hammer dropping, smooth blasting and a modified slurry, are proposed in this study. It can be concluded that the heavy hammer dropping method should be chosen to deal with weathered granite with a UCS of less than 50 MPa and the smooth blasting method should be adopted to deal with weathered granite with a UCS of more than 50 MPa. A case study of a metro station excavation using the smooth blasting method in Shenzhen is also introduced. The successful construction of the socket diaphragm walls demonstrates the applicability of the smooth blasting method.