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A Simplified Approach for Estimation of Braced Wall Deflection During Excavation in Soft Clay

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Abstract

The construction of braced excavations in urban areas requires control of surrounding ground movements since excessive ground movements damage adjacent properties. Reasonably good amount of work on numerical analysis and field studies on the estimation of ground surface settlement adjacent to excavation have been reported in the literature. However, theoretical studies or mathematical modeling have not been well addressed in the literature. This paper presents a simplified design approach for estimation of wall deflection where diaphragm wall is assumed as continuous beam. Earth pressure in the backfill side is taken as load, exerted on the beam and strut load along with earth pressure in cut side represents support of the beam. Peck’s earth pressure diagram for braced wall is used for load calculation while Terzaghi’s equation is considered to derive coefficient of modulus of subgrade reaction. Applicability of the proposed approach has been verified by comparing the estimated values of wall deflection with the measured values of three different case studies.

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Abbreviations

D :

Depth of wavelength or depth of fixity

d :

Depth of embedment of wall

H :

Depth of excavation

M i :

Bending moment at point i of wall

R :

Reaction force exerted by soil on wall

h :

Space between two flexible supports

K i :

Modulus of subgrade reaction of soil at point i

γ :

Unit weight of soil

c u :

Undrained cohesion of soil

B 1 :

Size of plate used for plate load test (normally 0.3 m)

B :

Size of foundation

E S :

Modulus of elasticity of soil

SF :

Factor of safety

q a :

Allowable bearing capacity

a :

Subgrade modulus at soil surface

b :

Coefficient of subgrade modulus for depth variation

α :

Exponent to give K value, the best fit

E :

Modulus of elasticity of wall member

I :

Moment of inertia of wall

m :

Coefficient of deflection including soil modulus terms

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil Engineering Department, University Institute of Technology, University of Burdwan, Burdwan, 713104, India

    Kingshuk Dan

  2. Civil Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 700032, India

    Ramendu Bikas Sahu

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  1. Kingshuk Dan
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  2. Ramendu Bikas Sahu
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Correspondence to Ramendu Bikas Sahu.

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Dan, K., Sahu, R.B. A Simplified Approach for Estimation of Braced Wall Deflection During Excavation in Soft Clay. Indian Geotech J 46, 56–63 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-015-0150-x

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