Soil Arching Effect Associated with Ground Movement and Stress Transfer Adjacent to Braced Excavation in Clayey Ground
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 149, Issue 12
Abstract
A field test for investigating the soil arching effect behind the diaphragm wall was carried out in an average 17-meter-deep, braced excavation in the normally-consolidated clayey ground. Horizontal and vertical ground movements, lateral earth pressures, diaphragm wall deformations, and strut loads were measured and analyzed. The soil arching zone and the loosened zone behind the wall are determined by the force and displacement boundary conditions of soil mass. The arching stress transferred along the arching zone drags the soil against the bracing and increases the lateral earth pressure around the upper parts of the wall. This results in a passive state of stress and horizontal compression and vertical extension of the soil around the crest of the wall. The top of the arching zone extends vertically and is on the same vertical line as the maximum ground surface settlement. The three-dimensional arching is essentially formed by the superposition of multiple transverse two-dimensional archings along the longitudinal direction of excavation, of which two arching feet were located near the corner.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The research is supported by funds from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52090082, 51938005, 51878267, and 52108318), China Hunan Provincial Science & Technology Department (Grant Nos. 2019RS1030 and 2021JJ30119), Youth Science and Technology Innovation Talent Project of Hunan Province (Grant No. 2021RC3043), and Wuhan Municipal Construction Group Company Limited. The authors are grateful to Mr. Yaoming Tang from Hunan University for his help in the field test. The authors also express their thanks to Dr. Xingtao Lin from Shenzhen University for his suggestions.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 149 • Issue 12 • December 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 4, 2022
Accepted: Jul 19, 2023
Published online: Sep 26, 2023
Published in print: Dec 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Feb 26, 2024
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