The effects of construction stage on the development of retaining wall

Abstract

Shortage of space for parking, public amenities and housing utilities has made necessary to use underground spaces. Deep excavations in urban areas require special measure due to presence of structure, underground utilities and other engineering constructions existing in vicinity. As such, the performance of support systems for deep excavation requires careful consideration of soil-structure interaction. During the construction stage of the retaining wall, the most critical wall movements can be occurred. This study due to determine the lateral movement of retaining wall and deformation of soil. Comparison stability between diapragm wall and sheet pile wall also has been made. Finite Element Method which utilising PLAXIS software has been used in this study for data analysis. Case study also conducted by site visit at Alor Setar. The input data obtained from site visit which included detailed geometry of the excavation and retaining structures, realistic material models for the soil, structures and soil-structure interface and correct construction sequences were inserted into the software. Results of the study revealed that the lateral earth pressure behind the retaining wall are the main caused of the deformation of retaining wall. Besides that, it further revealed that the stability between the diaphragm wall and sheet pile wall were almost the same. Total displacement of the sheet pile wall and diaphragm wall were 115.32 mm and 111.94 mm respectively while the horizontal movement were 72.28 mm and 78.91 mm respectively. Overall, the chosen analysis method was keened to the purpose of analysis.