Response of Building Adjacent to Stiff Excavation Support System in Soft Clay
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 16, Issue 1
Abstract
A three-story school supported by shallow foundations was affected by an adjacent 12.2-m-deep excavation in soft clay in which the excavation support system was a 0.9-m-wide secant pile wall braced by both cross-lot struts and tiebacks. The school is a reinforced concrete frame structure with exterior reinforced concrete foundation walls. This paper summarizes the conditions at the site and presents correlations among construction activities, measured deformations and distortions, and attendant damage in the school. The lateral ground movements associated with the excavation were monitored with four inclinometers placed around the school. The building movements were monitored with optical survey points established on interior columns, exterior walls and on the roof, and with tiltmeters installed on the exterior foundation walls. The damage to the school mainly consisted of 300 to 500-mm-long hairline cracks in nonload bearing walls. Only a few cracks had widths greater than 6 mm. The school deformed such that the portion closest to the excavation sagged and the remainder hogged. Damage was first observed in the area of sagging when angular distortions reached 1/940 and the excavation was approximately 5.5-m deep. Angular distortions as large as 1/300 were observed at the end of the project. The data suggest that angular distortions had to be less than 1/1000 to preclude any damage to the school.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Bjerrum, L. (1963). “Allowable settlements of structures,” Proc. European Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. 2, Weisbaden, 135–137.
Boone, S. J.(1996). “Ground-movement-related building damage,” J. Geotech. Eng., 122(11), 886–896.
Boscardin, M. D., and Cording, E. J.(1989). “Building response to excavation-induced settlement,” J. Geotech. Eng., 115(1), pp. 1–21.
Boscardin, M. D., Cording, E. J., and O’Rourke, T. D. (1979). Case studies of building behavior in response to adjacent excavation, Univ. of Illinois Rep. for the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Rep. No. UMTA-IL-06-0043-78-2, Washington D.C.
Burland, J. B., and Wroth, C. P. (1974). “Settlement of buildings and associated damage,” Proc., Conf. on Settlement of Structures, Cambridge, 611–654.
Burland, J. B., Broms, B. B., and de Mello, V. F. (1977). “Behavior of foundations and structures,” 9th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, State-of-the-Art Rep., Vol. 2, Tokyo, 495–546.
Canadian Foundation Engineering Manual, (1992). 3rd Ed., Canadian Geotechnical Society, BiTech Publishers, Vancouver, BC.
Chung, C. K., and Finno, R. J.(1992). “Influence of depositional processes on the geotechnical parameters of Chicago glacial clays,” Eng. Geol. (Amsterdam), 32, 225–242.
Finno, R. J., Bryson, L. S., and Calvello, M. (2002), “Performance of a stiff support system in soft clay,” paper submitted to the Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE
Meyerhoff, G. G. (1956). “Discussion of ‘The allowable settlements of buildings’, by A. W. Skempton and D. H. MacDonald,” Proc., Institute of Civil Engineers, Part II, Vol 5, 774.
O’Rourke, T. D., Cording, E. J., and Boscardin, M. D. (1976). The ground movements related to braced excavations and their influence on adjacent structures, Univ. of Illinois Rep. for the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Rep. No. DOT-TST-76T-22, Washington D.C.
Ou, C.-Y., Liao, J.-T., and Cheng, W.-L.(2000). “Building response and ground movements induced by a deep excavation,” Geotechnique, 50(32), 209–220.
Peck, R. B., and Reed, W. C. (1954). “Engineering properties of Chicago subsoils,” Bulletin No. 423, Engineering Experiment Station, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, III.
Polshin, D. E., and Tokar, R. A. (1957). “Maximum allowable non-uniform settlement of structures,” Proc., 4th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, London, Vol. 1, 402–405.
Skempton, A. W., and McDonald, D. H. (1956). “Allowable settlement of buildings,” Proc., Institute of Civil Engineers, Part III, Vol. 5, 727–768.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 16 • Issue 1 • February 2002
Pages: 10 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 17, 2001
Accepted: Sep 28, 2001
Published online: Feb 1, 2002
Published in print: Feb 2002
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.