The effects of excavation unloading, construction reloading and underground water on basal heave of excavation projects were presented and analyzed based on the measurement results of an underground urban complex which was located in Shanghai. The effects on water pressure and building settlements were analyzed as well. The numerical analyses by finite element method (FEM) were conducted. It showed that the soil under the excavation base continued to heave during the following certain construction stage. It also found that the bearing capacity of uplift piles which supported the buildings affected the structure quality significantly. The conclusions can be applied in future projects.
The importance of soil small strain effect on soil-structure behavior was investigated by researchers in last decades. The finite element method (FEM) is always used to predict the excavation behavior, whereas there are not many soil models available to consider this effect in analysis. This paper introduces a simple small strain soil model—hardening small-strain (HSS) in PLAXIS 8.5 and exhibits its application in excavation problems via studying the history of two cases. The analyses also use two familiar soil models: hardening-soil (HS) model and Mohr-Coulomb (MC) model. Results show that the HSS predicts more reasonable magnitudes and profiles of wall deffections and surface settlements than other models. It also indicates that the small strain effect relies on the strain level which is induced by excavation.
Evaluation industrial factory building damage potential due to ground movements caused by excavations inside the building is a critical design consideration when reconstructing the underground equipment of the industrial factory building. In this paper,the behavior of a support system for a reconstruction project of underground equipment of the industrial factory building in Shanghai and its effects on a pile-foundation supported building are presented. The 8.1 m deep excavation is made through soft clay to fine sand and retained by the 800 mm thick pile wall and the bracing system. Field observation data are collected,especially such as the lateral displacements of columns,settlement of cushion caps,and general building deformation trends. A 3D finite element method (FEM) procedure is demonstrated here with considering of interaction between soils and structures,and is conducted to examine responses of retaining wall,columns,and cushion caps due to excavations. The proposed numerical model is shown to adequately reflect the responses of the industrial building factory caused by excavations inside the building. The results of numerical prediction are close to the field observation.
When diaphragm wall is used as the permanent vertical bearing structure,design standard of the bored pile adopted has to induce the risk or iste. The vertical load transfer mechanism and bearing capacity of the diaphragm wall are examined by a field testing program at the site in Shanghai soft clays. Test results indicate that the diaphragm wall almost behaves as a rigid body under the vertical load. It induces that the skin friction and the toe resistance of the wall develop simultaneously. The skin friction resistance carries the large portion of the vertical load,and the toe resistance of the wall provides about 9.2% of vertical bearing load. Toe-grouting technique is found to achieve a remarkable increase in skin friction and toe resistance. The toe resistance of the grouted wall provides about 17.5% of vertical load.
