Excavation and Lateral

Support System
A brief recap
Lecture 1 - Overview
1. Objectives of ELS
2. Key elements of a typical ELS
3. Factors required attention in design of ELS
a) Ground conditions – soil strength, groundwater level, obstructions in ground
b) Sensitive receivers – settlement limit and vibration limit
c) Geometry of the opening
d) Site constraints – site boundary, site size, headroom
e) Constructability of the permanent works
4. Major wall types
a) Sheet pile wall
b) Pipe pile wall
c) H-pile wall
d) Hybrid of H- and pipe pile
e) Bored pile wall
f) Diagram wall
5. Major types of lateral support
a) Count on wall itself
b) Berm
c) Strut
d) Tie back
6. Construction sequence
a) Bottom-up
b) Top-down
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Lecture 2 – Analysis (Part 1)
1. An overview
a. SLS – settlement
b. ULS – Geotechnical stability and structural stability
2. Lateral load
a. Fundamentals
b. Calculation – Rankine theory and C&K chart (which friction
angle to be used)
c. Strip load and Line load
d. Redistribution
3. ULS - Introduction of the concepts of geotechnical stability
a. Overturning stability / Kickout stability
b. Hydraulic stability
c. Foundation stability
d. Overall stability
4. Recap
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 2a. Fundamentals
Effect of wall movement:
• The amount of wall movement
required to mobilize the active
and passive state depends
primarily on the type and
stress state of retained soil.
• In general, the movements
required to reach the active
state are very small, while
large movements are required
to reach the passive state.

Further reading: Geoguide 1 Sections 6.2 and 6.3 Source: Geoguide 1 4

 1c Single propped wall – Soil-wall
interaction and lateral earth pressure
Stiff strut; wall rotates back

Observation 1 Large wall deflection,

Earth pressure around soil arching effect appears
strut is larger than the
pressure at rest

Observation 2
Passive earth pressure not Further reading: C580 Pg
fully mobilized 120-121
and
not triangular in shape

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2b. Calculation – Rankine theory
Further reading: Geoguide 1 Section 6.5.1

• The main limitation of the Rankine theory lies in its

implicit assumption of zero wall friction. In many
real cases, this assumption is not valid and
significant wall friction is likely to be mobilised.

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2b. Coulomb’s wedge method
• Trial wedge concept – force equilibrium of an
assumed failure wedge of soil

Critical slip
surface

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3D effects appear when excavation
length is finite and not large

Source: “On Stability Analysis of

Slurry - Wall Trenches” by
Brzakala et al.
Modification of overburden stress
A comparison

2b = trench length

Reference:
Huder, J. (1972). “Stability of Bentonite Slurry Trenches with some
Experiences in Swiss Practice,” Proceedings of the 5th European Conference
on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. 1, Madrid, Spain, 1972.
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Lecture 3 – Analysis (Part 2)
1. ULS - Overturning stability / Kickout stability (dry condition)
a. Global factor of safety
b. Cantilever wall
c. Single propped wall
d. Multi-propped wall – Definition of FOS
2. ULS - Overall stability / Kickout stability (wet condition)
a. Use of net water pressure for FOS calculation
b. Single propped wall
c. Multi-propped wall
d. Consideration of seepage – calculation and caution
3. ULS - Hydraulic stability
a. Critical hydraulic gradient
b. Flow net concept
c. Design charts
4. ULS - Foundation stability – design chart
5. Recap

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1a Global factor of safety
𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡
• FoS =
𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡

Cantilever Wall Single-propped Wall

Mulit-propped Wall
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 1b Cantilever wall - simplified solution

Read: GEO Pub 1/2023 Section 7.3.1

+20%
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2d. Net water pressure with seepage

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Lecture 4 – Analysis (Part 3)
1. Structural stability (strut load)
a. Empirical method
b. Numerical methods

2. SLS - Ground movement

a. Different sources of ground movements
b. Estimation of ground movements
c . Acceptable levels

3. Numerical method for ELS design

a. Commonly used numerical programs
b. Outputs
c. Calibration – case studies

4. Slurry supported trench for diaphragm wall construction

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3D Numerical Analysis for ELS

Fuentes R (2019). Influence of corners in excavations on damage assessment.

Geotechnical Research 6(2): 91–102, https://doi.org/10.1680/jgere.18.00017
Lecture 5 – Local practice
1. Partial factor of safety approach
a) Typical methodology
b) C580 – Design concept
c) Modification for use in HK
2. Wall (vertical element) installation
a) Sheet pile wall – installation sequence and drivability
b) Pipe pile wall / H-pile wall – drilling method
c) Bored pile wall – stability, tremie concrete
d) Diagram wall – installation sequence and site control
3. Excessive ground settlement prevention
a) During wall installation
b) During excavation
4. Groundwater control measures
5. Instrumentation plan
6. Recap

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 2b. Solider pile wall
• Installation method similar to pre-bored H pile
construction

Source:
Arup,
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BV
Lecture 6 – Case histories

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Causes of excavation wall failure
Poor design and construction details
Poor standard of workmanship

• 3 examples shared to you – background and details

• Site supervision strengthened