XIII ICSMFE, 1994. New Delhi, India / XIII CIMSTF, 1994.

New Delhi, Inde

AGEING EFFECT ON DEFORMATION BEHAVIOUR OF SOFT CLAY IN DEEP

EXCAVATION
EFFET DU VIEILLISSEMENT SUR LE COMPORTEMENT DE DEFORMATION DE
L’ARGILE MOLLE EN FOUILLES

N. Som

Professor, Civil Engineering Department

Jadavpur University
Calcutta, India
S'ÏNOPSIS: G r o u n d m o v e m e n t is an i m p o r t a n t e f f e c t of b r a c e d excavation. If c o n s t r u c t i o n is slow,
e f f e c t of t i m e o r a g e i n g bec o m e s i m p o r t a n t a n d ad d i t i o n a l g r o u n d m o v e m e n t o c curs l e a d i n g o f t e n to
d a m a g e to a d j o i n i n g prog r a m s . The p a p e r gi v e s nume r i c a l dat a on the eff e c t s of a g e i n g on g r o u n d
s e t t l e m e n t in b r a c e d cuts as o b s e r v e d in C a l c u t t a m e t r o construction.

Ti m e is a n e s s e n c e o f g e o t e chnical c o nstructio n. A l t h o u g h the s i t u a t i o n w a s c o n t r o l l e d in m o s t

P a r t i c u l a r l y so in u n d e r g r o u n d w ork w h e r e ra p i d s t r e t c h e s of the a l i g n m e n t there w e r e m a n y cases
c o n s t r u c t i o n o f t e n a l lows the w ork to be d o n e w h e r e a g e i n g effects t e n d e d to b e c o m e significant.
w i t h o u t m u c h h a zard. In reality, however, c o n ­ A t h e o r e t i c a l a n a l y s i s u s i n g fini t e e l e m e n t gave
s t r u c t i o n t a k e s t i m e a n d the a s s u m p t i o n of u n ­ the s t e p w i s e p a t t e r n of g r o u n d s e t t l e m e n t simu­
d r a i n e d b e h a v i o u r b e c o m e s invalid. l a t i n g the d i f f e r e n t stag e s of e x c a v a t i o n an d
s t r u t t i n g in the field. Fig. 2. E l a s t o - p l a s t i c
A g e i n g m a n i f e s t s i t s e l f in u n d e r g r o u n d c o n s t r u c ­ s t r e s s - s t r a i n model w a s u s e d a n d calc u l a t i o n s
tion in tw o ways. F i r s t , t h e w o r k p r o c e e d s s l owly w e r e d o n e for u n d r a i n e d soil behaviour. A com ­
a n d th e a s s u m p t i o n o f in s t a n t a n e o u s stre s s c h a n ­ p a r i s o n o f the p r e d i c t e d a n d o b s e r v e d b e h a v i o u r
ges is n o t s t r i c t l y a d h e r e d to. Secondly, an e x ­ s h o w e d m e a s u r e d s e t t l e m e n t s g r e a t e r than the
c a v a t i o n is l eft o f t e n f o r l o n g p e r i o d s of t ime p r e d i c t e d valu e s thus i n d i c a t i n g the i m p o rtan c e
t h e r e b y a l l o w i n g s e c o n d a r y a n d c r e e p e f f e c t s to .of c o n s o l i d a t i o n a n d cr e e p phenomena.
become significant. A ny deep excavation,whatever 0 Im )
the s u p p o r t sys t e m i n e v i t a b l y leads to g r o u n d
m o v e m e n t s in s u r r o u n d i n g a r e a s and a n y s t r u c t u r e
ly i n g w i t h i n the z o n e of infl u e n c e is l i k e l y to DESSICCATEO BROWNISH STRUT
be a f f e ct e d . If d e f o r m a t i o n of the soil is e l a s ­ GREY SILTY CLAY
1
ti c the v o l u m e of l o s t g r o u n d m a y be p r e d i c t e d - 3 . 2 [ 25 . 3,89 ]
well f r o m a n e l a s t i c fini t e ele m e n t a n a l y s i s of Cu = 4 t / m2
the a p p r o p r i a t e s o i l - s t r u c t u r e i n t e r a c t i o n p r o b ­ -5 - 4 . 0 [ 14 . 2 . «9 ]
lem. Bu t th e e f f e c t s o f s e c o n d a r y and c r e e p m o v e ­
m e n t d u e to a g e i n g a r e s o m e w h a t i n d e t e r m i n a t e - 7 .1 [1 7 . 5 . »9 ]
OARK GREY SILTY CLAY
an d d e p e n d s on r ate of excavation, d e l a y in fix­
WITH SE Ml - D EC O M PO S ED
in g struts, d e l a y in c o n s t r u c t i o n etc. - 7 . S [ 27 . 4 . 1 9 ]
WOOD P I E C E S
T h e t i m e e f f e c t o f b r a c e d cuts in s o f t c l a y h a s C u =2.5 t/m 2 - 9 . 5[ 1 9 . 12 . 89 )
be e n s t u d i e d f rom m e a s u r e m e n t s of g r o u n d and
b u i l d i n g s e t t l e m e n t a d j a c e n t to the Calcutta
metro construction. Fig. 1 shows the typical
- 12 .0
su b soil d a t a a n d t h e e x c a v a t i o n p r o f i l e at one 13 .6 [ 3 . 4, 9 0 ]
B LU ISH GREY SILTY CLAY
te s t se c t i o n . T h e s u bsoil c o n s i s t s o f a l t e r n a t e ---------------- r m r -
WITH KA NKA R
la y e r o f s o f t to f i r m s i l t y c l a y / c l a y e y sil t
a n d the d i a p h r a g m w a l l s w e r e given a t l e a s t 4 m 2
p e n e t r a t i o n to r e s t in a h a r d c l a y - the d e s i g n
-17
b e i n g d o n e f r o m c o n s i d e r a t i o n s of b o t t o m heave .
T h e s o m e w h a t small d e p t h o f p e n e t r a t i o n - a l t h ­
o u g h a d e q u a t e to p r e v e n t b o t t o m h e a v e failure,
how e v e r , m e a n t t hat the d i a p h r a g m wall w o u l d be YE LLO W ISH BRO WN SANDY
l a c k i n g in r i g i d i t y a n d g r o u n d m o v e m e n t would CLAYEY SILT
be h i g h if c a r e w a s n o t ta k e n to e n s u r e s p e e d y Fig. 1. Typical soil d a t a a n d E x c a v a t i o n profile
c o n s t r u c t i o n a n d t h e r e b y m i n i m i s e a g e i n g effects.

59
T h e t ime e f f e c t o n g r o u n d s e t t l e m e n t is b est
u n d e r s t o o d f rom t h e s e t t l e m e n t d a t a of premises
Ti met Days)
no. 161 C.R. Avenue, Fig. 3. Here, in the a d j a ­
c e n t section, t he e x c a v a t i o n h a d b een lef t open
a t 8 m d e p t h f or 90 d ays and then a g a i n at 10 m
d e p t h f o r a n o t h e r 9 0 days. Thereafter, e x c a v a ­
tion w a s r e s u m e d an d the final c u t d e p t h was
r e a c h e d in a n o t h e r 85 days. A f t e r tha t th e r e was,
o n c e again, a l o n g hold-up, b e c a u s e of a l a b o u r
dispute, a n d the b a s e r a f t could be c a s t o n l y
a f t e r a l a p s e of f u r t h e r 685 days. A d m i t t e d l y
this w a s an e x t r e m e c a s e of de l a y in s uch c o n ­
st r u c t i o n bu t the e f f e c t of a g e i n g on g r o u n d
s e t t l e m e n t can be c l e a r l y seen. Out of a total
s e t t l e m e n t o f 172 m m n o less t han 9 3 m m h a d o c c ­
u r r e d d u r i n g s t o p p a g e s of excavation. S i m i l a r
d a t a h a v e been c o l l e c t e d fro m the s e c t i o n where
the e x c a v a t i o n wa s k e p t o p e n for l o n g p e r i o d s of
time. Fig. 4 shows a p l o t of the t i m e vs. ratio
o f th e final s e t t l e m e n t at a c u t level to the
s e t t l e m e n t t h a t o c c u r r e d i m m e d i a t e l y a f t e r the
e x c a v a t i o n d e p t h w as r e a c h e d in d i f f e r e n t test
s ec t i o n s . It is c l e a r t h a t the ratio (St/ S 0 )

Ti m e ( Days)
Fig. 4. Additional s e t t l e m e n t w i t h time

Rate of excavation (days/metre)

Fig. 5. Rate of e x c a v a t i o n vs. ground settlement

Ti m e (months)
i n c r e a s e s r a p i d l y f o r p a u s e in c o n s t r u c t i o n upto
150 day s d u r i n g w h i c h a d d i tional s e t t l e m e n t of
u p t o 4 0 % occurs. Thereafter, t h e ratio St/ S Q i n ­
c r e a s e s but slowly. T h e same data, w h e n p l o t t e d
U 8 12 16 20 1U 28 32 to a semi l o g a r i t h m i c scale gives a n e a r s t r a i g h t
l i n e r e l a t i o n s h i p bet w e e n s t/ s0 v s * l o g ( t ) .

T h e e f f e c t of t i m e on g r o u n d s e t t l e m e n t m a y al s o
b e e x a m i n e d fro m its e f f e c t o n the rate of e x c a ­
v a t i o n . For the C a l c u t t a m e t r o the ex c a v a t i o n
r ate for an a v e r a g e 14 m d e e p c u t h a s been 16 to
34 day s p e r m e tre. T h i s rate i n c l u d e s the time
t a k e n to do the a c t u a l excavation, f i xing of
s t ruts a n d all s t o p pages. T h e m a x i m u m g r o u n d
s e t t l e m e n t as e x p r e s s e d b y its ra t i o to the depth
o f c u t has been p l o t t e d a g a i n s t the rate of e x c a ­
vation, Fig. 5. T h e d a t a a r e w i d e l y scattered,
b u t the t r e n d of i n c r e a s i n g s e t t l e m e n t wit h slow
ra t e o f e x c a v a t i o n is c l e a r l y seen.

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