Managing Geotechnical Risk

Are we learning from the failures

The Use of Instrumentation and Monitoring to Verify

Design and Control Construction of Deep

Excavations (modified)
Andy Pickles
of
GCG (Asia) Ltd.

As

Overview of Presentation
Presentation relates to deep excavation for major
infrastructure projects

Risk in design and role of instrumentation

Typical scope and cost of instrumentation

Obtaining added value (reducing risk) from instrumentation

Interpretation of instrumentation

As

Risk in Design of Deep Excavations

Instrumentation is associated with the management of
risk (i.e. uncertainties). These include:

Soil stratigraphy

Geotechnical design parameters

Construction related factors

As

Uncertainty of Soil Stratigraphy

Variation of Continuity of Sand Layer
Discontinuous Layer

As

Continuous Layer

Uncertainty in Design Parameters - 1

Deep Excavation in Clay

4
0

FIL
L

0
-4

-4

Soft CLAY

-8

-12
-16
-20

40

75

-24

Stiff CLAY

Clayey SAND

-28
-32

As

-36

Reduced level (m)_

Reduced level (m)_

-8

-12
-16
-20

Final exc

Bend Mom
2800 kNm

5000 kNm

-24
-28

Strength_1
Strength_2

Hard CLAY

Strength_1
Strength_2

-32
-36

0.240

0.200

80 100 120 140 160

0.160

60

0.120

40

0.080

20

0.000

0.040

Wall horizontal disp. (m)

Undrained shear strength, cu (kPa)

Uncertainties in Design Parameters 2

Variation of Rate of Softening
Low Permeability

As

High Permeability

Construction Related Uncertainties -1

Performance of Grout Cut-off

CLAY

As

Construction Related Uncertainties - 2

Ground settlement on wall installation

Effectiveness and extent of dewatering

Properties of jet grout layers

Effectiveness of ground treatment

Effects of previous construction work

Interaction with adjacent structures

As

Instrumentation to deal with these risks

All design approaches

Routine design approach

Observational approach (progressive modification)

Design parameters from previous experience

Determined from instrumentation results

Offset risk by using conservative assumptions

Verify design using instrumentation results (AAA)

Manage risk through engineering input

Less conservative assumptions
Continuous improvement of design based on instrumentation results
As knowledge improves design improves and risk remains constant.

As

Trigger Levels in Routine Design

Trigger levels are used as part of the AAA system

Important to distinguish between trigger levels set using the design

predictions, on the basis of additional calculation and based on engineering
judgement

Design predictions are unreliable and AAA value requires a design review, if
appropriate AAA values can be updated

Additional calculation is based on actual serviceability and AAA values

should not be exceeded

Engineering judgement are often guesses or best practice and more detailed
analysis is then required and AAA values can be revised

As

10

Managing Risk and Obtaining Value

If the major role of instrumentation is to manage risk how

can we make it more effective?

Alternatively, how can we get more value out of

instrumentation?

As

11

The Role of Instrumentation

Routine design and construction

0%

To verify an already conservative design

Observational approach
Use data to continually improve design
Reduce construction costs
Save construction time

Long term perspective

Full interpretation published with all background
information allows future designs to be improved
Benefits accrued by major clients

As

10%
12

I
N
C
R
E
A
S
I
N
G

V
A
L
U
E

Typical Scope of Standard Instrumentation

Standard instrument
type

1 km cut and cover

with station in
Singapore

1 km cut and cover

with station in
Hong Kong

Inclinometers in walls

120

50

Strut load monitoring

400

200

Piezometers
(VW and standpipe)

50

120

Settlement points

800

500

Extensometers

10

15

As

13

Scope of Data Collection

Typically 1000 to 2000 separate instruments

Readings required daily during excavation and strut

removal stages and weekly at other times

Typically of the order of 200 readings per instrument

400,000 separate sets of readings

1,000,000 or more data points

As

14

Typical cost of instrumentation

Cost of instrumentation and
monitoring

1.5% to 2% of contract value

Management cost (engineering

support, meetings etc.)

0.5% to 1% of contract value

Total cost

2% to 3% of contract value

Cost includes
Instrumentation
Monitoring teams (instrumentation and survey)
Engineering support to coordinate work
Development and maintenance of database
Daily, weekly and monthly reporting with associated meeting costs

As

15

Cost of Instrumentation Routine Design

Total cost for routine instrumentation of a deep excavation contract is S$ 5

to 10 million

Primary use is to verify the design of the excavation works

Cost is of similar order to the original design costs (i.e. pay as much to verify
as to design)

Instrumentation is often seen as an onerous contract requirement

No added value obtained from instrumentation

Designer is often not closely involved with construction

As

16

How to Add Value to Instrumentation

Adding value is reducing risk and reducing cost

Involve designer in the construction work

Prepare good quality instrumentation interpretative reports

(comprehensive rather than instrument specific)

Carry out back analyses to determine actual performance parameters

Encourage value engineering through observational approach

Publish results and improve standards and codes of practice

As

17

Cost of Adding Value to Instrumentation

Additional cost for proper interpretation of results and

associated report is S$ 0.1 million

Additional cost for back analysis in order to obtain useful

design data for future work is S$ 0.1 to 0.2 million

Large savings in Contract costs and times are achievable

by making better use of monitoring data

Additional costs can usually be offset by better control of

day to day monitoring (i.e. cut down frequency)

As

18

Examples of Excessive Monitoring

Manual Settlement Readings
Jan 00

Nov 01
-5

-15
0

As

-120

19

Groundwater Level mPD

Examples of Excessive Monitoring

Manual Piezometer Readings

As

18 Months with 500 Measurements

20

Examples of Excessive Monitoring

Datalog Piezometer Readings
Tide Gauge

Groundwater Level mPD

1 Day

Piezometer

As

21

Examples of Excessive Monitoring

Datalogged Piezometer Readings
Jan 00

Nov 01
-5

-15
2.5

-1.5

As

22

Monitoring Frequency, Value and Risk

My experience approximately 50% of monitoring is unnecessary.

Obtained because nobody is reviewing the data.

Extra value can be obtained without additional cost by better control

of instrumentation

Better value is associated with reduced risk

Additional value can be obtained through

Use of Observational Approach (Progressive Modification)
Adoption of updated design codes (e.g. CIRIA C580)
Feeding back information to future contracts

As

23

Proposal for Increasing Value of Instrumentation

Use of Observational Method can achieve substantial cost savings

and more importantly time savings (e.g. Powderham, Nicolson)

Adoption of CIRIA C580 which makes more use of instrumentation

and can reduce cost of Dwalls by approximately 5% (Sze and Chan
2005)

Scope for reducing factor of safety or load factor by 10%

Paper to ICDE 2006 proposes adoption of C580 with improved

instrumentation as an interim measure. Better use of
instrumentation, involvement of designer and more widespread
adoption of Observational Approach.

As

24

Comment on Interpretation of Instrumentation

The 4 Basic Steps

1. Baseline readings and background trends must be

established (daily rainfall, seasonal rainfall, tide,
temperature etc.)

2. Construction records are critical to data interpretation

3. Instrumentation results must be correlated against
baseline trends and construction history

4. Analysis and presentation of data must consider cause

and effect
As

25

Establish Baseline Trend

X
Maximum
Allowable
Water
Drawdown
Is 1m

Movement of
Viaduct Structure

40 m

As

Alert = 10 mm
Action = 15 mm
Alarm = 20 mm

26

Establish Baseline Trend 1

Movement of Bypass Pier Head
50

X-dir

Feb 01
40 mm

-30
20

JunJuly
00 00

Oct 01

Y-dir

18 mm

As

27

Establish Baseline Trend 1

Movement of Bypass
50

X-dir

40 mm

-30
20

JunJuly
00 00

July Oct
01 01

Y-dir

18 mm

As

28

Establish Baseline Trend 2

Variation of Groundwater Level

Groundwater Level mPD

Jan 00
0

As

July 00

Jan 01

July 01

29

Construction Records Tabulated Data

Pile No.

Inclination

Drilling
Start Date

Drilling
Completion
Date

Casing Top
Level (for
R.H.)

Length of
Casing

(mPD)

(mPD)

(m)

MP33A-1

14-Jul-05

14-Jul-05

6.800

7.060

21.66

MP33A-2

26-Jul-05

26-Jul-05

6.800

7.119

21.60

MP33A-3

03-Aug-05

04-Aug-05

6.800

7.030

21.54

MP33A-4

22-Aug-05

23-Aug-05

6.800

7.000

20.13

MP33A-5

05-Sep-05

06-Sep-05

6.800

7.037

20.45

MP33A-6

18-Jul-05

19-Jul-05

6.800

6.942

20.53

09-Aug-05

17-Aug-05

6.800

6.892

20.15

27-Jul-05

27-Jul-05

6.800

7.104

20.97

MP33A-9

02-Aug-05

03-Aug-05

6.800

7.151

20.94

MP33A-10

16-Jul-05

16-Jul-05

6.800

6.989

20.94

MP33A-11

05-Sep-05

05-Sep-05

6.800

7.051

19.9

MP33A-12

15-Jul-05

15-Jul-05

6.800

7.028

20.32

MP33A-13

08-Aug-05

09-Aug-05

6.800

7.015

20.21

MP33A-14

29-Aug-05

30-Aug-05

6.800

6.884

MP33A-7
MP33A-8

As

Cap Mark

Ground
Level

MP33A

30

19.78

Construction Records - Environmental

As

31

Construction Records Progress Summaries

As

32

Construction Records - Photographs

3 March 2002

As

33

Correlate Response to Construction Activities

Cause and Effect Plots
Jan 00
Excavation level (mPD)

Nov 01

-5

-15
0

Settlement (mm)
-120
50

Inclinometer (mm)
+2.5

Piezometer (mPD)

As

-1.5

34

Correlate Response to Construction Activities

and Baseline Trends
Tidal Response

Groundwater Level mPD

+2

Rainfall Control
Start Dewatering
Stop Dewatering

+1

0
Complete Dwall

-1

-2

As

Jan 00

July 00

Jan 01

July 01

35

Summary

The primary purpose of instrumentation is to manage risk

Risk arises due to uncertainties in ground engineering

Designer is aware of uncertainties so should be involved in construction (i.e.

continuity) but is often excluded

Much instrumentation is wasted, not enough engineering input

Reduced costs and reduced risk (i.e. added value) can be obtained by better
use of instrumentation

Requires good quality interpretation of data and reporting to manage the

risks

As

36

End of Presentation
Thank you

As

37