CE 421 : Earth Retaining Structures

Braced Excavation
Afrad Ibn Harun
Lecturer
University of Information technology & Sciences (UITS)
 What is Braced Excavation?
❑ An excavation supported by suitable bracing system
is called braced excavation.
GL

❑ Purpose :
(i) Minimize the excavation area ;
(ii) Keep the sides stable ;
(iii) Ensure that movement of soil will not cause
damage to neighbor structures or utilities ;
❑ Two important features :
(i) Stability of excavation , ground movement ;
DL
(ii) Design of structural elements such as anchor,
sheet piles and so forth ;
 Type 1 # Soldier Beam

❑ Solider beam are vertical timber or steel beam and they are located into the soil
❑ Lagging is the horizontal plank that is made up of timber and placed in-between solider beams
during the process of excavation.
❑ While the excavation reaches required depth, installation of wales and struts are done
❑ Wales are considered to be a continuous horizontal element upon proper splicing. It is the structural
member, which can transfer load from the diaphragm wall to struts. Fastening of wales is done to
sheet pile at the points, where they fulfill the requirement needed for lateral support.
 Type-2 # Sheet pile

❑ Sheet piles come under the interlocking sheet pile category and is located into the ground before
excavation.

❑ Sheet pile is widely used as a braced cut

Lateral Earth Pressure in Braced Excavation
❑ Let us assume that AB is a frictionless wall retaining a granular soil. During the excavation process
followed by the placement of struts, the upper portion of the soil mass next to the cut does not undergo
sufficient lateral deformation.

❑ However, as the depth of excavation increases, the time lag between the excavation and placement of struts
increases, also resulting in a gradual increase in the lateral deformation of wall AB.

❑ The wall AB rotates about A (i.e., rotation about the top).

❑ At A, the lateral earth pressure will be close to the at-rest earth pressure (practically no lateral deformation
of the wall).

❑ At B, the lateral earth pressure may be less than the Rankine active earth pressure. (The deformation of the
wall is large, and the soil may be in a state well past the plastic equilibrium.)

❑ Hence, the lateral earth-pressure diagram will approximate to the form ACB, as shown in Figure
Pressure envelope for
Braced-cut design
# Envelope for sand :

γ = Unit weight
H = height of the braced cut
Ka = Active earth pressure co-efficient
φ’ = Effective friction angle of sand

Peck’s (1969) apparent-pressure envelope for cuts in sand

# Envelope for soft to medium clay :
The pressure envelope for soft to medium clay is shown
in Figure and is applicable to the condition-

Peck’s (1969) apparent-pressure envelope for

cuts in soft to medium clay
 Pressure envelope for stiff clay

The pressure envelope for cuts in stiff clay is

shown in Figure, in which-

It is applicable when-

γ𝐻
≤4
𝑐

Peck’s (1969) apparent-pressure envelope for

cuts in stiff clay
 Horizontal Pressure Calculation
The apparent horizontal pressure can then be
calculated as-

s = centre to centre spacing of strut

 Pressure envelope for cuts in layered soil
Sometimes, layers of both sand and clay are encountered when
a braced cut is being constructed. In this case, Peck (1943)
proposed that an equivalent value of cohesion should be
determined according to the formula-
The average unit weight of the layers may be expressed as

where 𝛾𝐶= unit weight of clay layer.

❑ Once the average values of cohesion and unit weight are determined, the pressure envelopes in clay
can be used to design the cuts.
Similarly, when several clay layers are encountered in the
cut , the average undrained cohesion becomes
 Design of various components of braced-cut
# Strut
• Struts are horizontal columns subject to bending
• In construction work, struts should have a minimum vertical spacing of about 2.75 m or more.
Steps for designing-
• Draw the pressure envelope for the braced cut. (See Figures 10.5, 10.6, and 10.7.) Also, show the proposed
strut levels. Figure 10.9a shows a pressure envelope for a sandy soil; however, it could also be for a clay. The
strut levels are marked A, B, C, and D. The sheet piles (or soldier beams) are assumed to be hinged at the
strut levels, except for the top and bottom ones. In Figure 10.9a, the hinges are at the level of struts B and C.
(Many designers also assume the sheet piles or soldier beams to be hinged at all strut levels except for the
top.)
• Determine the reactions for the two simple cantilever beams (top and bottom) and all the simple beams
between. In Figure 10.9b, these reactions are A, B1, B2, C1, C2, D
The strut loads in the figure may be calculated via the formulas

Here,PA, PB, PC, PD =loads to be taken by the individual

struts at levels A, B, C, and D, respectively
A, B1, B2, C1, C2, D = reactions calculated in Step 2 ( note
that it is force/unit length
S =horizontal spacing of the struts (see plan in Figure
10.9a)
 Example-1
The cross section of a long braced cut is shown in Figure
a. Draw the earth-pressure envelope.
b. Determine the strut loads at levels A, B, and C.
c. Determine the section modulus of the sheet pile section required.
d. Determine a design section modulus for the wales at level B.
Note: The struts are placed at 3 m, center to center, in the plan. Use 𝜎𝑎𝑙𝑙 = 170 × 103 𝐾𝑁/𝑚2
 Solution

# Part A :
We were given, 𝛾 = 18 𝐾𝑁/𝑚2
𝐾𝑁
and, c= 35 2
𝑚
H=7m
As it is clay layer,
𝛾𝐻 18×7
= = 3.6 < 4
𝐶 35
So this matches with stiff clay.

Here, maximum pressure intensity

𝜎𝑎′ = 0.3𝛾H
= 0.3×18×7
= 37.8 𝐾𝑁/𝑚2
# Part-B :
To calculate the strut loads, examine Figure 10.10b.
Taking the moment about B1 and ΣMB=0 we get,
# Part-C :
At the left side of Figure , for the maximum moment, the
shear force should be zero. The nature of the variation of
the shear force is shown in Figure c. The location of point
E can be given-

𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑡 𝐵1 45.2
x= = = 1.196m
37.7 37.8

Bending moment at E,
1.196
Mmax(E)= (45.2×1.196)-(37.8×1.196× )
2
=27.03 kN-m/m of wall

The section modulus of the sheet piles is thus

𝑀
S= 𝑀𝑎𝑥 =
𝜎𝑎𝑙𝑙

27.03 𝐾𝑁
=
170 ×103 𝐾𝑁/𝑚2
= 15.9 × 10-5 m3 /m of the wall
# Part-D :
 # Example-2:
Refer to the braced cut shown in Figure , for which
𝛾 =112 lb/ft3 , ∅ = 32°, and c’= 0. The struts are located
12 ft on center in the plan.
(a)Draw the earth-pressure envelope
(b) determine the strut loads at levels A, B, and C.

# Solution :
For this case it is sand layer.. Hence,

Here, maximum pressure intensity-

# Example 3 :
For the braced cut described in Example 2, determine:
(i) The sheet-pile section modulus ;
(ii) The required section modulus of the wales at level A; assume that 𝜎𝑎𝑙𝑙 = 24 kip/in2

Solution :
Refer to the load diagrams shown in Figure