Soil-Structure Interaction, Underground Structures and Retaining Walls 127

V.M. Ulitsky et al. (Eds.)

IOS Press, 2014
© 2014 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.
doi:10.3233/978-1-61499-464-0-127

Foundations by prestressing anchors

of the “Villa Méditerranée” in Marseille:
from design to monitoring
Catherine JACQUARD
FONDASOL, France

Abstract: The structure of the Villa Méditerranée is in an unstable position, which gives to four of its foundations a permanent
traction load. Each of these foundations is stabilised by 4 to 6 active permanent anchors (149 to 349 Tonnes of load service
each). In order to limit deformations due to elasticity of prestressing cables, a specific level of prestressing has been defined. The
paper presents the design, the achievement and the monitoring of the prestressing anchors, in order to insure the stability of the
structure.

Keywords. prestressed anchors, stabilization of foundations

1. Introduction traction (sea fig.3, file 1). To maintain the

foundations, four to six prestressed nearly
The Villa Méditerranée is a center of conference vertical anchors have been carried out.
and exhibitions, built on the sea side of This paper describes the design, the
MARSEILLE by AREA PACA. Boeri, Manfredi achievement and the monitoring of these an-
and Di Pol are the architects designers of this chors.
metallic 36m cantilever structure, at 19 m high
above the sea level (sea fig.1 and 2). It is com-
pletely independent of the underground structure
based at 15m under the sea level.
The construction area is around 60x60m,
built from a platform at +1.7m NGF, earthworks
have been carried out at -13.5m NGF, under
cover of a diaphragm wall.

Figure 2. Cross section of the structure.

2. Geological context

The site had previously a harbour activity, with

Figure 1. general view of the building.
Due to the cantilever structure, four of its
foundations are in fact loaded with permanent
old embankments, navigation channels.
Geotechnical investigations which have been
carried out indicate the following lithology:
- Heterogeneous fills of 5 to 8 m thick,
- Alluvial sandy-gravely to clayey silty soils,
-Tertiary Stampien formations, beginning
from -7.5 to -12 m NGF, and constituted with
pudding stone, cemented sands and sandy to
clayey marls.
128 C. Jacquard / Foundations by Prestressing Anchors of the “Villa Méditerranée” in Marseille

A 2 to 3m thick layer of relatively permeable
gravely sand, was identified in the marls, be-
tween -20 to -25m NGF and is a captive aquifer.
Fills and alluvial formations constitute a free
surface aquifer. Both aquifers have nearly the
same static water level.
3.3. Procedure for injecting the anchors
The anchors are performed according french
recommendations TA95 (1) procedure for global
injection type of grouting.
First, drilling is carried out until the de-
signed length; then the armature and the tube for
grouting with cuffs are put in the hole. A first
grout fills the hole from the bottom to the top of
the whole length. After several hours, the injec-
tion of the fixing part is operated from the cuffs
tube to a low pressure of 1 MPa.

Figure 3. Foundations of the metallic structure.
3. General design of foundations
3.4. Distortions
Considering that the stability of the whole
structure is carried out on the anchors, it was
decided to be more conservative than the Euro-
code 7 for service situations load cases: The
specific service limit state being considered
gives up to 10 to 40% more load than usual
characteristic service load.
The design of such foundations needs to es-
timate accuratly the distortion to be expected in
accordance with elasticity of the cables, and with
different load cases, and to tight enough the
cables, in order to limit the deformations to
acceptable values for the long term behavior of
the structure.

3.1. Specific loads

The design of the cantilever metallic structure
gives heavy compression loads up to 3500
tonnes (35 MN) on file 3 foundations, and
traction loads on file 1 foundations of 500 and
2000 tonnes ( 5 to 20 MN).

3.2. Specific file 1 foundations

Each foundation of file 1 is designed to be
maintained by 4 to 6 prestressed anchors. Reser-
vations have been provided in the concrete of
those bases, in order to be able to add new
anchors, in case one anchor is defective (see fig.
4).
The anchors are in 0,18m or 0,20m diameter,
bored vertically, or on slope to vertical line of
5°. Their free length is 11m, their grouted length Figure 4. Cross-section of D foundation.
is 9m (foundations B and C) or 20m (founda-
tions A and D). They are equipped with cables
of preconstraint respectively 10T15.7 and
26T15.7; their fixing length is injected with
cement at low pressure from tubes with cuffs.
 C. Jacquard / Foundations by Prestressing Anchors of the “Villa Méditerranée” in Marseille 129

4. Characteristics of the anchors

4.1. Soil properties

The previous lenght of the anchors was calculat-
ed from pressiometric limit pressure values
measured in marls (Pl*= 7 MPa), and using
french recommendations TA95 (1) for global
injection type of grouting. The ultimate friction
in fixing length given by the abacus is qsu= 400
kPa.
Preliminary test have been carried out (see
4.3 paragraph) and enabled to define a better
ultimate friction of qsu = 600 kPa, and to give Figure 5. Reduced volume of soil associated to one anchor
the grouted length for each massif (see table 1)
in conformity with situation loads. Considering the equation (1), we can define
that QELS= 678 kN.
Table 1. File 1 anchors specifications

A1 B1 C1 D1 DLqsu , (1)
QELS "
QELU (kN) 4173 1990 1830 4512 2
(x6) (x4) (x4) (x6)
QELS CAR 2892 988 855 3148
(kN) (x6) (x4) (x4) (x4) Where D= 0,18m is the diameter of the drilling,
QELS SPE 3148 1368 1190 3588 L=6m the grouted length, and qsu= 600 kPa, the
(kN) (x6) (x4) (x4) (x6)
ultimate friction.
Free lenght (m) 11 11 11 11
Grouted lenght 20 9 9 20
(m) The tests were carried out in conformity with
french norma NF P94-153 (2) up to test traction
Te= 2232 kN. This value is three times the
theoretical load service value. Table 2 gives the
4.2. General stability main results of these tests. The ultimate value
qsu= 600 kPa, defined out of these tests, is 20%
To verify the uploading general stability, we less than the lower measured value, in order to
calculated a reduced volume of soil, associated be conservative.
to one anchor, in conformity with TA95 recom-
mendations (see fig. 5). This condition gives the
Table 2. Main results of preliminary tests
minimum length of the free length of the an-
chors. Anchor T'c Tc Tu (kN) Ts qsu
(kN) (kN) (kN) (kPa)
TR5 1688 1519 > 2232 1215 716
4.3. Preliminary tests TR6 1825 1662 > 2232 1329 783
TR7 1925 1733 > 2232 1386 817
At the beginning of works, three preliminary
tests were carried out in order to define properly 4.4. Creeping test
the ultimate friction to be considered in marls for
In order to check the risk of creeping in marls,
global injection type of grouting.
one of the test (TR7) was carried out with a long
In order to test the whole zone of embedding,
time stage of 24 hours under the load of 1360
the anchor tests were vertically drilled in 0.18m
kN. On fig.6, it can be seen the results of the
diameter, had a free length of respectively
test, in term of a values of creeping, calculated
26.5m, 31.5m, and 36.5m, and a fixing length of
according to formula 2, with gives the speed of
six meters.
the displacement of the anchor under the load.
This speed is decreasing with time. Extrapolat-
ing these measures, it can be assumed that
creeping becomes null after around 50 hours.
130 C. Jacquard / Foundations by Prestressing Anchors of the “Villa Méditerranée” in Marseille

5. Procedures for tensioning anchors

Deformation Defor… #=!
Each anchor is tight at a trial tension Te=
1,25Ts, with Ts being the specific limit service
state defined for the project. The tension is
uploaded by five steps (0,1Te- 0,2Te- 0,4Te-
0,6Te- Te). The trial tension is maintained 30
minutes. If creeping conditions (Ze5'-30' <
1mm) are not satisfied, the trial tension test is
Time (minutes) extended of 30 minutes, and it must be checked
that Ze30'-60' < 0.5mm. The tension is then
Figure 6. Deformation and creeping downloaded to the service tension Ts.
of the anchor TR7 24 hour test To avoid an excessive rotation of the founda-
tions, a procedure by steps of loading has been
established: the first step consists of applying
tension of 50% of final tension to all anchors of
a foundation; the second step consists of apply-
y = 0,0002x + 33,889
Lengtht PAF

ing the trial tension to each anchor and then to

R² = 0,984 download it to the service tension Ts.
Fig.8 shows a foundation (D) with its an-
(m)

chors already in tension.

Time (minutes)
Figure 7. PAF of the anchor TR7 24 hour test

Moreover, the fictive anchor point (PAF) is

calculated with formula (3), taking into account
the extension of the anchor Zl, the elastic modu-
lus of the steel E=192500 MPa, and the section
of the cable S=1500 mm² (10T15.7).
When extrapolating the fictive anchor point
graphic at 50 hours, we calculate a PAF of about
34.5m (see fig.7), which exactly corresponds to
the sum of the free lenght (Ll= 31.5m) and half
Figure 8. D foundation in tension
of the fixing lenght (Ls=6m).
Under the load test of 1360 kN, the injected
length is loaded at 50% of its capacity. The
Tension (kN)

safety coefficient is then of 2 compared to the

limit friction.

!l (2)
#"
!t
ES!l (3)
PAF "
Te $ T 0
Tension (kN)

During this test it has been measured:

Z\]^_`-5')= 0.7mm < 1mm
Z\]2h-20')= 0.44mm < 1mm
Z\]kpq-1h)= 1.17mm
These are criteria which also contribute to Figure 9. Tension control between 30th march and 2nd
make the test satisfying. august 2011
 C. Jacquard / Foundations by Prestressing Anchors of the “Villa Méditerranée” in Marseille 131

6. Monitoring of the foundations

In order to control the behavior of the anchors

with time, and to ensure the stability of the
structure, two anchors of each foundation have
been equipped with a control tension cell.
The fig.9 shows the tension of the anchors
during the construction of the structure. Some
relaxation occurs during the first months and
then stabilizes. It is due to the settlement of the
foundation in compression on the stiff marls
under the tension of the anchors.
A protocol of periodic monitoring has been
established and has to be maintained during the
life of the structure, in order to make sure no
problem is encountered. The procedure consists
of automatic measurements of the tension of
anchors; a system of alert is activated if the level
of tension, defined for each foundation is over-
taken.

7. Aknowledgements

The author thanks AREA PACA for his authori-

zation to write this paper.

8. References

(1) Recommandations tirants d'ancrage : TA95 (1995),

Eyrolles, 150 pages
(2) Norme NF P94-153 (1993). Essai statique de tirant
d'ancrage, 20 pages
(3) Norme NF P94-282 (2009). Calcul géotechnique-
Ouvrage de soutènement- Ecrans, AFNOR, 182 pages