19/02/2012

Case study – Park Station

Gautrain project, South Africa

Minh Nguyen

Construction of a large cavern in

sandstone in urban condition
Mushroom shaft (Mardini 2007)

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Station construction
Shaft Tunnel

D-wall excavation at Park Station

• Total depth of excavation about 16m
• Four levels of supports at mid-depths of 4.0, 9.5,
13.0m and base slab
• Casting of concourse and roof slabs
• Numerical modelling with non-linear stiffness
characteristics for the ground
– Detailed design: PLAXIS – 2D
– Independent check: FLAC – 2D
• Extensive evaluation of ground parameters and
soil models

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A small strain model (Jardine-type)

Mohr-Coulomb failure with elastic (non-linear) small strain stiffness characteristics
for problems related to serviceability limit states

3G B  X  1
 A  B (cos ) X   (sin ) X 
p' 2.303

K S   Y  1
 R  S (cos ) Y   (sin ) Y 
p 2.303

A small strain model (Jardine-type)

Linear elastic part of the M-C model

E,  → K, G

is replaced with a non-linear small strain model

number of curve-fitting parameters that produce

stiffness degradation with stress and strain level;

Step height
(proportion of stiffness)
G/Gmax

String length
(strain)

Strain (log)

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Observational method
• Installation of an array of inclinometers
• Recommended deflection profiles for
monitoring of actual ground movements
during construction
• Used of these profiles to inform of the
stability of the wall and associated structures

Construction and monitoring

• Construction • Monitoring
programme points

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West side – Incl PAR-INC0002

West side – Incl PAR-INC0006

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West side – Incl PAR-INC0008

West side – Incl PAR-INC0012

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Response of the East D-wall

• Stiffer response as shown from monitoring
• Observed patterns indicated the stability of
the walls and associated support structures
• Good matching was not easy to achieved
• The simple small strain model (Jardine’s type)
although ad-hoc but worked for this case
• Future calibrations or revised Class 2
prediction could be aimed for

East side – Incl PAR-INC0001

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East side – Incl PAR-INC0007

East side – Incl PAR-INC0009

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East side – Incl PAR-INC0011

Summary
• Class 1 prediction with observational method
• Recommended deflection profiles were
useful to construction
• Stiffer response was observed in the east wall
than that in the west wall
• For effective numerical modelling, it is
important to understand the governing
ground behaviour and applied appropriate
simulation