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    Problems Encountered in Diaphragm Wall Excavation

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    rasanavaneethan
    This document summarizes problems encountered during excavation of diaphragm walls. Diaphragm walls are deep trenches excavated through soil and kept open with bentonite slurry. Major problems discussed include ensuring vertical trench walls, removing large rocks from the trench, soil caving beneath guide walls, trench collapse in loose soils, bentonite sedimentation over time, and soil collapse during concrete pouring. Solutions involve careful excavation, crushing large rocks, lowering bentonite pipes, filling cavities with grout, adding dispersants to bentonite, and monitoring concrete volumes to detect soil collapse. Proper preparation, excavation techniques, and bentonite management are needed to construct diaphragm walls successfully.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Problems Encountered in Diaphragm Wall Excavation

    Uploaded by

    rasanavaneethan
    444 views5 pages
    This document summarizes problems encountered during excavation of diaphragm walls. Diaphragm walls are deep trenches excavated through soil and kept open with bentonite slurry. Major problems discussed include ensuring vertical trench walls, removing large rocks from the trench, soil caving beneath guide walls, trench collapse in loose soils, bentonite sedimentation over time, and soil collapse during concrete pouring. Solutions involve careful excavation, crushing large rocks, lowering bentonite pipes, filling cavities with grout, adding dispersants to bentonite, and monitoring concrete volumes to detect soil collapse. Proper preparation, excavation techniques, and bentonite management are needed to construct diaphragm walls successfully.

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    Problems Encountered In Diaphragm Wall Excavation

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    This document summarizes problems encountered during excavation of diaphragm walls. Diaphragm walls are deep trenches excavated through soil and kept open with bentonite slurry. Major problems discussed include ensuring vertical trench walls, removing large rocks from the trench, soil caving beneath guide walls, trench collapse in loose soils, bentonite sedimentation over time, and soil collapse during concrete pouring. Solutions involve careful excavation, crushing large rocks, lowering bentonite pipes, filling cavities with grout, adding dispersants to bentonite, and monitoring concrete volumes to detect soil collapse. Proper preparation, excavation techniques, and bentonite management are needed to construct diaphragm walls successfully.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    444 views5 pages

    Problems Encountered in Diaphragm Wall Excavation

    Uploaded by

    rasanavaneethan
    This document summarizes problems encountered during excavation of diaphragm walls. Diaphragm walls are deep trenches excavated through soil and kept open with bentonite slurry. Major problems discussed include ensuring vertical trench walls, removing large rocks from the trench, soil caving beneath guide walls, trench collapse in loose soils, bentonite sedimentation over time, and soil collapse during concrete pouring. Solutions involve careful excavation, crushing large rocks, lowering bentonite pipes, filling cavities with grout, adding dispersants to bentonite, and monitoring concrete volumes to detect soil collapse. Proper preparation, excavation techniques, and bentonite management are needed to construct diaphragm walls successfully.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 5

    NAOSITE: Nagasaki University's Academic Output SITE

    Title

    Problems Encountered in Diaphragm Wall Excavation

    Author(s)

    Abdelhadi, Nafeth; Abdelhadi, Monther; Gotoh, Keinosuke

    Citation

    Vol.26(46) p. 39-42, 1996

    Issue Date

    1996-01

    URL

    http://hdl.handle.net/10069/14919

    Right
    This document is downloaded at: 2013-04-02T02:27:57Z

    http://naosite.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp

    Reports of the Faculty of Engineering, Nagasaki University, Vol. 26, No. 46, January 1996

    39

    Problems Encountered In Diaphragm Wall Excavation


    by

    Nafeth ABDELHADP, Monther ABDELHADF and Keinosuke GOTOH 3

    Diaphragm walls or what is called slurry trenches are deep extended walls through granular or soft
    soils in shallow water table areas.

    Construction of these slurry trenches involves extracting a trench

    while simultaneously keeping heavy viscous slurry (bentonite) filling the excavation to provide lateral
    pressure that must be at least equal to or greater than the lateral pressure of the trench walls.
    construction of such kind of walls, excavation is the most serious problem encountered.

    In the

    In this paper

    the authors tried to focus on the most important problems involved in excavating diaphragm walls and
    providing some solutions.

    1. Introduction

    the bentonite to be used.

    Bentonite slurry which is used mainly in oil

    In construction of the

    diaphragm walls, there are a lot of things to be

    drilling industry is proved to be an effective mate-

    considered a side from the deformations.

    rial in diaphragm walls construction!).

    The main

    paper the authors tried to present the major prob-

    advantage of diaphragm walls technique is to avoid

    lems encountered in the excavation of such kind of

    a huge excavations in places where excavation is

    waIls based on available information obtained from

    difficult or impossible to be performed.

    This

    a case history three years ago under a large car

    method of wall construction has had a great success

    park project in Almadenah Almonawarrah, Saudi

    since its first use

    ).

    The following factors have led

    In this

    Arabia.

    to this successful development:


    a) The availability of bentonite produced from
    montmorillonitic clays and refined and converted

    2. Site preparation

    Before starting the excavation, a central


    bentonite slurry plant must be prepared for mixing

    to sodium montmorillonite,
    b) The need of walls for deep basements, under-

    and providing bentonite to the trench or panels


    under excavation through a net of steel pipes with

    passes, and tunnels,


    c) The development of excavation machines and
    development of bentonite processing plant.
    It is also very applicable in places where dewater-

    ing cannot be performed.

    about 15-20 em in diameter.

    This pipes system is

    spread a long the working areas to facilitate providing fresh bentonite and taking out used

    However, the construc-

    bentonite to be recycled by separation of rock

    tion of the diaphragm walls is always accompanied

    fragments and sand fractions mixed with bentonite

    with a lot of difficulties and problems which are

    during the proccess of excavation as shown in

    based mainly on how to estimate the deformation

    Photo 1. Sand and rock fragments are usuaIly

    of the trench sides.

    Based on the calculated defor-

    separated by means of what so called desonders

    mation the engineer will be able to design and

    which is considered as an important unit of the

    determine the density and the other specification of

    bentonite plant.

    Received on October 27, 1995


    1 Natural Resources Authority, Jordan
    2 Graduate student, Department of Civil Engineering
    3 Department of Civil Engineering

    40

    N. Abdelhadi, M. Abdelhadi, K. Gotoh

    Photo 1 Bentonite plant.

    Photo 2 Grab which is used mainly in excavating


    loose sand.

    Guide wall

    3. Excavation
    ,-----'-

    After the site exploration and investigation exca-

    ----.,,-- Ground surfase

    vation starts, at this stage it must be decided what


    kind of excavation machines must be used in order
    to achieve the basic requirements for a minimum
    disturbance of the soil around or surrounding the
    trench.

    Fig. 1 Location of guide walls.

    As an example of that loose sand and

    gravels can be excavated by using grab while excavation of hard strata can be performed by using

    the excavation since it is desired and recommended

    cutter.

    to found this kind of walls on hard, fresh and

    Another important factor to be considered

    is the cutting rate of the trench since it is important

    unweathered rocks if possible 2 ).

    to give time for bentonite to form what is called

    rock quality is achieved recycling of working

    "filter cake" membrane at the wall sides-bentonite

    bentonite in the excavated panel will immediately

    surface.

    Excavation either by using a grab (see

    take place for a period of time until getting the

    Photo 2) or a cutter within the same panel is carried

    required bentonite specification before concreting.

    out at more than one stage.

    The width of the grab

    This can be achieved with a bentonite sample taken

    jaw and the distance that can be excavated directly

    from the bottom of the trench after a complete

    by the cutter is limited.

    The grab or cutter can

    recycling and it will be tested in order to estimate

    excavate a maximum of 2.08 meter wide vertical

    its sand content, pH, and filter loss and gel strength.

    strip, so that a panel of about 6.06 meter long can

    This step is followed by checking the depth of the

    be excavated by three stages.

    trench by using a long steel rod installed vertically

    As a first step in the

    If the required

    excavation procedure of any diaphragm wall, guide

    in the trench.

    walls must be constructed in order to prevent any

    creting must not exceed 1.15 gm/cm 3 and its viscos-

    collapse of soil from the top of the proposed wall

    ity must be less than 20 cPo

    and also to facilitate the implementation of

    be very important to ensure enough cleaning of

    bentonite pipes which will provide the trench with

    steel bars during concreting and displacement of

    the bentonite during the excavation procedure (see

    bentonite.

    Fig. 1).

    During excavation bentonite has to be

    many problems take place, these problems and

    provided simultaneously to the trench while ex-

    some practical solutions can be summarized in the

    cavated materials mixed

    following paragraph.

    with bentonite

    are

    pumped out again to be sent to the bentonite plant


    for recycling.

    Bentonite density just before conThis is considered to

    During the process of excavation so

    1) Verticality of excavation

    After finishing the excavation, rock

    Excavated trench must be vertical as much as

    quality test must be performed as the last stage of

    possible within an allowable vertical deviation of

    Problems Encountered In Diaghragm wall Excavation


    about 1%.

    41

    The solution of this problem was

    solved by sliding the grab or cutter into and out of


    the trench and skipping the inside wall sides.
    Theoretical

    Theoretical

    2) Presence of big, hard and smooth surface boulders and stones that keep rolling under cutter

    G>

    G>

    .2

    .2

    wheels or stacking of these stones between the

    teeth of the cutter.


    Depth

    Depth

    This problem was solved by crushing the boulders and stones by using heavy chisels, and so
    crushed materials will be suspended by bentonite
    and pumped out of the trench.

    Fig. 2 Detection of soil collapsing during concreting.

    3) Caving of soil under guide walls


    Eventually caving occurs in the portion beneath
    the guide walls due to the falling of bentonite slurry
    from the top of the guide walls during the supplying
    of bentonite.

    This problem was solved by connect-

    ing bentonite pipes with another flexible pipes and


    lowering these flexible pipes down the trench so as
    to decrease the falling head of bentonite slurry.
    4) Trench collapsing
    During excavations in the fill areas, soil tends to
    loose its strength by absorbing water or by the
    vibrations caused by the excavating machines.

    Photo 3 Diaphragm wall after construction.

    The solution of this problem was achieved by filling the trench and the resulting cavings with low
    Continuous recording of depth against

    strength sand cement mortar in order to stabilize

    paper.

    loose fill bands.

    actual volume of poured concrete is plotted on the

    After consolidation of mortar, the

    cavities in the trench sides kept filled with by stable

    same millimetric paper as shown in Fig. 2.

    materials.

    If wanted, the stability of diaphragm

    monitoring this graph soil collapsing can be detect-

    By

    wall during excavation can be increased by using

    ed and so concreting must be continued until soil

    temporary vertical tie-down anchors.

    contaminated concrete is taken out.

    5) Bentonite sedimentation
    When the time between bentonite recycling and
    concreting is relatively long, bentonite may precipi-

    4. Conclusion

    Since there are a lot of applications of diaphragm

    At this moment,

    walls, it is very important to understand the proce-

    to keep bentonite slurry more homogenous and to

    dure of excavation and its effect on the final struc-

    decrease its sedimentation rate, dispersing agents

    ture.

    or some other chemical materials are added.

    in excavation are plenty, it can be solved by careful

    6) Soil collapsing during concreting

    study of the land conditions and the study of the

    tate in the bottom of the trench.

    The soil is expected to collapse at any time


    during concreting of the wall.
    collapse

    occurred

    during

    Even though the technical problems involved

    case histories available.

    However, if any
    concreting,

    the

    References

    contaminated concrete must be removed immedi-

    1) Joseph E. Bowels, Foundation Analysis and

    To perform this job, theoretical volume of

    Design, Cacho Hermanos, Metro Manila, pp.

    ately.

    the trench is calculated before concreting and depth


    against theoretical volume is plotted on millimetric

    544, 1982.

    2) C. R. Scott, Developments in Soil Mechanics-I,

    42

    N. Abdelhadi, M. Abdelhadi, K. Gotoh


    Applied Science Publishers, England, pp. 213215, 1978.

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