Numerical Analysis for Earth Pressure of Braced Excavation in Soft Clay Considering Fluid-Structure Coupling Interaction

Deep excavation induces groundwater table varied from inside to outside of the foundation pit and groundwater may flow around the bottom of retaining wall. In this paper, a practical engineering with a deep excavation in Shanghai was studied. PLAXIS program was applied to analyze earth pressures and lateral wall displacements considering the fluid-structure coupling interaction. The computed earth pressure distributions with PLAXIS program were compared with results of conventional Rankine's theory and measured data. The results illustrate that the computed results of considering fluid-structure coupling coincided with measured data. Earth pressure and lateral wall displacements computed by FEM through fluid-structure coupling are appropriate to multi-braced excavation in soft clay.