Study on Deformation Characteristics of Deep Foundation Excavation in Soft-Soil and the Response of Different Retaining Configurations

• Published in: Geotechnical and geological engineering 2012-04, Vol.30 (2), p.313-329
• Main Authors: Liu, Xianshan, Liu, Shaowei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Civil Engineering; Computational fluid dynamics; Computer simulation; Configurations; Deep foundations; Deformation; Dimensional analysis; Dredging; Dynamic stability; Earth; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth pressure; Earth Sciences; Embankments; Excavation; Flow stability; Fluid flow; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Hydrogeology; Mathematical models; Mechanical properties; Nonlinear analysis; Nonlinear systems; Numerical analysis; Numerical methods; Original Paper; Pressure; Soil; Soil analysis; Soil dynamics; Soil mechanics; Soil settlement; Soil stability; Soil strength; Soils; Subway stations; Terrestrial Pollution; Wall thickness; Waste Management/Waste Technology
• ISSN: 0960-3182; 1573-1529
• DOI: 10.1007/s10706-011-9470-5

In recent years, many researchers have considered the mechanical characteristics of deep foundation excavation in soft-soil. The analysis of these deep excavations requires consideration of an uncertain, nonlinear, dynamic and complicated system, and involves consideration of soil strength, stability, deformation, fluid flow and interaction of soil and different retaining configurations. It is difficult to describe such a nonlinear system using traditional analysis. Therefore, in order to accurately describe the mechanical behavior of a representative deep excavation of the subway station, in this case, 3-Dimensional geotechnical numerical analysis method using FLAC3D software was applied. Using this tool, a study considering earth pressure, soil deformation and settlement was carried out. Furthermore, the response of different retaining configurations was deeply investigated. Triaxial cement mixing piles were considered as a way to optimize deformation of the deep excavation and reduce settlement of the ground surface and the railway embankment. The analysis indicated that the deeper the foundation excavation was, the larger the surface settlement and the smaller the earth pressure. The analysis also considered the mechanical effect of varying the wall thickness and the wall depth on the structure‘s deformation characteristics. The simulations indicated that a wall thickness of less than 1.4 m effectively reduced wall horizontal displacement, ground surface settlement and uneven settlement of railway embankment. While a variable wall embedded depth that was less than 52 m also changed the settlement of the excavation deformation and the ground surface. Therefore, the numerical results can agree with the practical project to imply that numerical method in the paper is applicable and reliable, which provides a new thought to research on deep excavation in soft-soil.