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Geological difficulties and countermeasures for socket diaphragm walls in

weathered granite in Shenzhen, China

Article in Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment · April 2015

DOI: 10.1007/s10064-015-0740-y

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Bull Eng Geol Environ
DOI 10.1007/s10064-015-0740-y

ORIGINAL PAPER

Geological difficulties and countermeasures for socket diaphragm

walls in weathered granite in Shenzhen, China
Qing-Long Cui1 • Huai-Na Wu1 • Shui-Long Shen1 • Ye-Shuang Xu1

Received: 27 November 2014 / Accepted: 20 March 2015

 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Abstract In Shenzhen, a complex series of folds and diaphragm walls are embedded in weathered granite to a
fractures, and intensive metamorphism took place during depth of between 3 and 10 m. However, the traditional
the pre-Caledonian, Caledonian, and Hercynian to In- socket diaphragm wall construction is only viable in soft
dosinian orogenies. Then, Yanshanian orogeny, with the ground, as it is not practical to penetrate hard weathered
most tectonic movement, occurred. Strong invasive activity granite. As a consequence, difficulties arise during con-
of granitic magma, a massive blowout of acidic volcanic struction in the Shenzhen region, such as difficulty in
rock, and magmatism-related mineralisation are the fea- breaking down the rock, socket diaphragm wall collapse
tures of Yanshanian orogeny. Moreover, deep faults were and leakage. To solve these construction problems, coun-
also developed and wide folds were formed. A large termeasures, such as monitoring, heavy hammer dropping,
amount of granite rock was formed from the Yanshanian smooth blasting and a modified slurry, are proposed in this
orogeny in Shenzhen. The outcrop area of the granite in study. It can be concluded that the heavy hammer dropping
Shenzhen reaches 760 km2, almost covers 50 % of Shen- method should be chosen to deal with weathered granite
zhen land area. Granite is primarily susceptible to chemical with a UCS of less than 50 MPa and the smooth blasting
weathering. Though weathered, granite and solitary granite method should be adopted to deal with weathered granite
boulders are of high uniaxial compressive strength (UCS). with a UCS of more than 50 MPa. A case study of a metro
The weathered granite may be covered by Quaternary soil station excavation using the smooth blasting method in
with low shear strength, such as backfill, sand, silty clay, Shenzhen is also introduced. The successful construction of
and clay. The thickness of the Quaternary soil ranges from the socket diaphragm walls demonstrates the applicability
0 to 40 m. Socket diaphragm walls are usually adopted of the smooth blasting method.
during deep excavation construction in Shenzhen for their
safety and low impact on the surrounding environment. Keywords Socket diaphragm walls
Weathered granite

When the excavation depth is increased, the socket Blasting
Shenzhen

& Huai-Na Wu Introduction

[email protected]
& Shui-Long Shen With recent economic development and urbanisation, the
[email protected] city of Shenzhen in China, which has a population of over
Qing-Long Cui 15 million, is developing its infrastructure, including the
[email protected] metro system and other projects involving deep excava-
Ye-Shuang Xu tions. Figure 1 shows a map of Shenzhen and its districts.
[email protected] Shenzhen is located on the east bank of the estuary of the
1 Pearl River in Guangdong Province, adjacent to Hong
State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Department of
Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Kong. The land area of Shenzhen is 1890 km2. The ge-
Shanghai 200240, China ology is complex and tectonic activity in the region is

123
 Q.-L. Cui et al.

Fig. 1 Map showing the district N

boundaries around Shenzhen 0 5 10 km
The People's Republic of China
Duanguan
Huizhou

Shenzhen

Pearl River

Shenzhen Hong Kong

Yangtai Mountains Haian Mountains Pearl Dongjiang Haiwan

intense. Two large faults, the North East Fault and the adopted to dig the soft soil cannot grab the hard granite.
North West Fault, have developed, and these govern the Therefore, the difficulty arises of how to break the rock in
geological conditions in Shenzhen (SG 2009). The geolo- order to create the trench (Wong 1984; Song and Kong
gical formations principally include backfill, sand, silty 1996; Tsai 1997; Tsai et al. 1998; Fang and Diao 2002;
clay, clay, granite rock, and mudstone rock. The granite in Wang and Zhou 2006; Mi et al. 2008; Li 2010; Xu et al.
low lying areas covers almost 50 % of the Shenzhen area 2011; Marschalko et al. 2012a, b).
with an outcrop area of 760 km2. Solitary granite boulders The objectives of this study are: (1) to investigate the
are also widely distributed in Shenzhen. distribution and properties of geological formations in
In the last 30 years, construction of deep excavations in Shenzhen; (2) to discuss difficulties and potential hazards
Shenzhen has gone through the following five stages: ac- during underground construction of socket diaphragm
cumulation of experience, rapid development of various walls in granite; and (3) to present technical methods for
technologies, a period of soil-nailing, technology applica- the construction of socket diaphragm walls in Shenzhen.
tion and deformation control (Fu and Yang 2010; Yang
et al. 2012). However, even simply constructed deep ex-
cavations can cause geohazards (Shen et al. 2003, 2006, Geology in Shenzhen
2008, 2009, 2010; Xu et al. 2012a, b). Socket diaphragm
walls used in deformation control have been widely used as Geology in Shenzhen
an excavation engineering technique in recent years in
Shenzhen because of their safety, high quality, good water The Shenzhen stratigraphic sub-region is part of the South
excluding capability and low impact on the environment. China stratigraphic region. Figure 2 depicts the geology in
The process of socket diaphragm wall installation is as Shenzhen. As shown in Fig. 2a, the exposed soil strata is
follows: First, one set of guide walls is constructed on the divided into 11 systems, such as the Quaternary, Jurassic
perimeter of the selected ground surface area. Then a and Cretaceous (SG 2009). The middle Proterozoic era is
special clamshell-shaped digger is used to dig and create featured with a high grade metamorphic sequence, while
space for each trench section according to the guide walls. the new Proterozoic era is made up of quasi-flysch clastic
The trench is then filled with slurry. The digger is then rock located in the shallow sea region, and stretches along
lifted up and moved along the guide walls to continue the the structural belt from the west of Shenzhen. The lower
trench. Once a trench section is excavated completely, a Paleozoic sub-era is almost absent. The upper Paleozoic is
reinforcing cage is lowered down into the slurry-filled distributed in the east of the upper and middle Devonian,
trench which is then filled with concrete from the bottom and mainly consists of clastic rock of continental-neritic
up. This process is repeated until the full length of the facies. The lower Carboniferous is generally distributed in
socket diaphragm wall is completed. the East while the upper Carboniferous is only observed in
The granite rock in Shenzhen is of high uniaxial com- the North-East. The lower and medium Triassic series in
pressive strength (UCS) and is difficult to break. Since the the Mesozoic are absent, and the upper Triassic series are
surface of the granite is found at shallow depths, as the only distributed in the North-West of Shenzhen. The
excavation depth increases, the hard granite will appear Jurassic is relatively developed in the district and is dis-
during the construction of the socket diaphragm wall. tributed in the North-West, the East and most of the Central
However, when socket diaphragm walls are necessary for area. The Cretaceous is primarily distributed in the urban
the construction of reinforced concrete walls in sandy and east, and scattered along the West coast. The Quaternary
clayey soil, the special clamshell-shaped digger which is soils mainly include clay, silt and sand. It is widely

123
Geological difficulties and countermeasures for …

(a)

(b)

Fig. 2 Geology of Shenzhen (created from SG 2009)

distributed in the western area and sporadically distributed the Yanshanian period. Finally, the geologic and geomor-
in other areas, at a thickness of 0–40 m. The older strata phology profile we see today were formed in the Hi-
from the Ordovician to Tertiary consists of different kinds malayan orogeny.
of rocks, such as sandstone, granite, mudstone, shale, Figure 3 shows the basic structural layers map of
limestone and marble. In the western area, adjacent to the Shenzhen. Shenzhen has three basic geotectonic units: a
Quaternary strata, the Cretaceous strata is widely dis- geosyncline region (Caledonian period), a platform region
tributed. Figure 2b gives a sectional view along A-B (re- (Luliang period) and a low lying region (Cathaysian peri-
ferred to Fig. 2a). As can be seen, the rock is exposed on od). The geosyncline region is strongly active while the
the ground surface. For foundation engineering, bedrock platform region is relatively stable. The low lying region is
serves well; however, for underground structures, such as a recently active area formed based on the geosyncline or
foundation pits, construction in bedrock presents great platform. Violent tectonic movement of the low lying re-
difficulties. gion has arisen due to the Yanshan movement during the
The Haian Mountains and the Yangtai Mountains form Mesozoic era. Due to significant magmatic activity, granite
two watersheds among three river systems serving the and igneous rock formed during the Yanshanian period
following rivers: the Dongjiang, the Haiwan and the Pearl. form the main rock. The Yanshanian orogeny in which the
These three river systems include 10 large rivers and 126 granite was formed involved tectonic movement that
small rivers which flow into the sea. The groundwater mainly included block orogeny, during which deep faults
system in Shenzhen consists of phreatic pore water in loose were developed and wide folds were formed, along with
rock mass, bedrock fissure water and karst water in car- strong invasive activity of granitic magma, a massive
bonate fractures. The groundwater level fluctuates between blowout of acidic volcanic rock, and magmatism-related
2 and 3 m below the ground surface. mineralisation.

Formation Engineering geology

The geology in Shenzhen formed as a result of internal Granite in Shenzhen

factors, such as geotectonic processes, and tectonic faults,
and external factors such as climate. To summarise, in As can be seen from Fig. 3, the granite in the low lying
Shenzhen, complex activities of folds and fractures and region covers almost 50 % of Shenzhen with an outcrop
intensive metamorphism took place in the pre-Caledonian, area of 760 km2. In southeast China, there are four generic
Caledonian, and Hercynian to Indosinian orogenies. The types of granite, the remelting type, the syntectic type, the
increase in fracture and magmatism activity and the related differentiation type and the metamorphic-metasomatic
mineralisation resulting in metal deposits was a feature of type. Most of the granites in Shenzhen are of the syntectic

123
 Q.-L. Cui et al.

Fig. 3 Basic structural layers

map and main fault zone of
Shenzhen (created from SG
2009)

Table 1 Physical and mechanical properties of granite in Shenzhen (SG 2009)

Relative density Density (g/cm3) Porosity (%) Water absorption (%) Saturation Friction
coefficient coefficient

2.5–3.2 2.3–3 0.04–2.8 0.1–0.7 0.55 1.1–1.46

Cohesion Tensile strength Static elastic modulus Dynamic elastic modulus Poisson Softening
(kPa) (MPa) (9104 MPa) (9104 MPa) ratio coefficient

280–680 2.1–5.7 1.4–6.9 5–9.4 0.1–0.36 0.72–0.97

type, and the rest are the remelting type. Syntectic granite is like broken pieces of granite in soil or soil sand. It
is formed by the syntectic effect of intrusive rock and collapses easily when soaked in water. Moderately
continental crust material and is distributed adjacent to the weathered granite, which is block-shaped with fragment-
fault zone. The distribution of the fault zone in Shenzhen is sized to massive coarse grains and has abundant weath-
shown Fig. 3. The lithology mainly includes adamellite, ered fractures. Slightly weathered granite has few
granodiorite and biotite granite, and the occurrence is stock weathered fractures and has high strength, with a high
or dike. UCS of more than 100 MPa.
The granite was generally formed in the Cretaceous Weathered granite, which is block-shaped and has a
and Jurassic periods. The granite in Shenzhen is flesh- coarse grain, includes quartz, feldspar and mica. Table 1
pink, grey-white or grey coloured and is medium- to lists the physical and mechanical properties of the granite
coarse-grained. Its tectonic is granular, porphyritic or in Shenzhen. The friction coefficient is within 1.1–1.46.
porphyroid and it exists in massive structures. The granite The UCS value of the weathered granite is shown in Fig. 4.
mainly includes minerals such as silica, alkali feldspar, The x-axis denotes the five grades of weathered granite. In
plagioclase and biotite. It has mainly been weathered by this study, moderately and highly weathered granite are
chemical weathering, which changes the minerals and classified as belonging to the same category with a UCS of
chemicals present. During the process of weathering, the less than 50 MPa. Slightly weathered, moderately weath-
plagioclase decomposes first, and then the orthoclase and ered, and solitary granite boulders, and even fresh granite,
the biotite. The main products of weathering are clay are also classified as belonging to the same category with a
minerals and silica, which have large pores that keep the UCS of more than 50 MPa.
granite residual soil within the structure of the parent Solitary granite boulders are also widely distributed in
rock. The weathering classification system is divided into Shenzhen. Cao et al. (2013) adapted the current basic
five grades: fresh, slightly weathered, moderately weath- theoretical research on the distribution of solitary stones
ered, highly weathered and completely weathered (SG and established a statistical procedure. More than 60 % of
2009). The structure of completely weathered granite is the solitary granite boulders are located in the highly
like hard soil, which collapses easily when pressed weathered granite layer. The upper level of solitary stones
manually or washed with water. Highly weathered granite is concentrated within the depth range of 40–70 m.

123
Geological difficulties and countermeasures for …

Quaternary deposit

Figure 5 illustrates a sectional image of the soil profile to a

depth of 40 m in the granite area of Shenzhen. The weathered
granite may be covered by backfill or Quaternary sedimentary
soil. The geological formations principally include backfill,
sand, silty clay, clay, granite rock, and mudstone rock. Fig-
ure 6 shows the typical physical and mechanical properties of
Quaternary soil. The natural water content of these soils ran-
ges from 16 to 40 %. The top layer is backfill with a thickness
of 2.2–4.2 m. Below that is a saturated sand layer which
contains 15 % clay. The next layer is silty clay containing
sandy silt, quartzose gravel sand and organic material. This
layer is characterised by high water content, high compress-
ibility, low permeability and low shear strength. Below this is
a clay layer that contains 20 % quartz. The granite rock and
Fig. 4 UCS values of weathered granite and the technical methods
for excavating trenches mudstone rock are below the soft soil layers.

Groundwater table Difficulties during underground construction

0
Fill in weathered granite
5 Fine sand
Silty clay Residual soil
As weathered granite covers almost half of Shenzhen and is
10
Fine sand difficult to break up, the following potential difficulties may
15 be encountered during underground construction: (1) rock
Elevation (m)

Clay
Completely weathered breaking, (2) socket diaphragm wall collapse, (3) leakage.
20 Highly weathered
Moderately weathered Rock breaking
25 Gr
an
ite Slightly weathered
30
In Shenzhen, as the rock is shallow and as the depth of
Fresh
35 excavations increases, socket diaphragm walls are gener-
ally embedded into the hard granite. As the traditional
40
clamshell-shaped digger is used in soft ground and cannot
Fig. 5 Sectional image of thesoil profile in Shenzhen (concept from break rock, excavation is problematic and rock breaking
SG 2009) problems arise (Fang and Diao 2002; Wang and Zhou

Fig. 6 Typical physical and w/wp/wl (%) e

3
(kN/m ) c (kPa) (°) (1/MPa) Es (MPa) kv (cm/s)
w 1-2
mechanical properties of
Soil layer 20 40 60 0.6 0.8 1.0 17 18 20 22 24 0 10 20 30 0.2 0.4 0.63 4 5 6 71E-8 1E-6 1E-4
Quaternary soil
0

Backfill w
5 wl
wp
Depth (m)

10 Fine
sand
Silty clay
15 Fine
sand
Clay
20
Note: w=natural water content; wp=plastic limit; wl=liquid limit; e=void ratio; =unit weight; c=cohesion; =interal frictional angle;
w

a1-2=compression coefficient; Es=compression modulus; kv=vertical hydraulic conductivity

123
 Q.-L. Cui et al.

2006; Mi et al. 2008; Li 2010; Yilmaz and Marschalko monitored parameters should include ground settlements
2012; Marschalko et al. 2012c). The compressive strengths and lateral displacement of the surrounding soil, pore-water
for highly, moderately and slightly weathered granite are pressure generated, earth pressure, water table and settle-
26.5–34.2, 56.3–76.8 and 58.7–90.8 MPa, respectively, ments of surrounding buildings and utilities. The collected
and such strengths caused great difficulty in the construc- data should be fed back immediately so that corresponding
tion of Tianbei station on the Shenzhen Metro Line 3 (Li countermeasures can be adopted by the engineers. To date,
2010). The fact that the diaphragm wall sockets are em- many case histories have been reported in the literature of
bedded 12 m into the rock also hindered the construction of field instrumentation programs during deep excavations
Gongyuanqian station on the Guangzhou Metro Line 1 (Ou et al. 1998; Liu et al. 2011; Tan and Wei 2012; Tan
(Fang and Diao 2002). and Wang 2013a, b). Xu et al. (2013) proposed a method of
longitudinal translation to analyse and evaluate the rela-
Socket diaphragm wall collapse tionship between the leakage point location and the size of
socket diaphragm walls in deep foundation pits.
In the construction of the socket diaphragm walls, a groove
of specified size needs to be constructed to create space for Heavy hammer dropping
the reinforcing cage. It is straightforward to construct the
trench when in soft ground while the trench is filled with Traditionally, a special clamshell-shaped digger is used to
slurry. However, if the bottom of the socket diaphragm excavate the trench. However, this machine can only dig
wall needs to be embedded several metres into weathered soft soils and cannot excavate the hard rock. Hence, a
granite, and the rock breaking process (described below) special heavy hammer is used to break the rock into small
causes a great impact on the surrounding soil, it is difficult pieces. A construction scheme using grab bucket equip-
to maintain the groove quality, and this can lead to collapse ment combined with the special clamshell-shaped digger
of the groove wall, especially at the boundary of the rock should be adopted in the construction of socket diaphragm
and the soft soil. Studies on the stability of diaphragm walls since it takes a long time when only the heavy
walls during construction have been reported (Wong 1984; hammer dashing is used (Li 2010).
Tsai 1997; Tsai et al. 1998; Xu et al. 2011). The rates of Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of a heavy hammer
trench construction, and the quality and the slurry height dropping onto weathered granite. After addition of the
exert an impact on the stability of the trench sides (Xu et al. guide walls, the traditional special clamshell-shaped digger
2011). Other factors, such as the time taken to clear up the is used to excavate the upper soft soil of the trench which
detrital rocks and confined groundwater flow in the trench, has been kept filled with slurry. When digging the granite,
can also cause the groove to collapse. a cable winch with a heavy hammer suspended from it is
used and driven to the trench. The heavy hammer is then
Leakage lifted up to a height of 3–4 m above the rock-face before it
is dropped slowly onto the rock to avoid it damaging the
The groundwater level generally fluctuates between 2 and surrounding rock. A guide stick is normally used to control
3 m below the ground surface in Shenzhen. The hydrostatic the hammer’s perpendicularity, and the hammer should be
pressure surrounding the excavation increases with an in- raised and dropped slowly. After a couple hours of hammer
creasing depth below groundwater (Daw and Scott 1983; Lee dropping, the rock is broken into detrital rocks, and the
et al. 2007; Wang et al. 2012). The influence of the depth special clamshell-shaped digger is used again to grab these.
below groundwater level on water inflow rates is significant. Figure 8 shows a photo of a heavy hammer made of silicon
During construction of socket diaphragm walls, it is essential steel alloy and weighing 3 tonnes. A 1.2-m diameter heavy
to prevent boundary leakage at the interface between the rock hammer was adopted to reduce large deformation of a di-
and the soft soil, and joint leakage in a two trench section. aphragm wall with an inclined rock surface in Shenzhen
Metro Line 3 (Li 2010).
Through a number of case studies in Shenzhen, it has
Technical measures for socket diaphragm wall been found that heavy hammer dropping can break mod-
construction erately and highly weathered granite which has a UCS of
less than 50 MPa, as shown in Fig. 6.
Monitoring
Smooth blasting
Due to the complexity of deep excavations, it is vital to
conduct instrumented field monitoring to guarantee project With an increasing excavation depth and an increase in the
safety during socket diaphragm wall construction. The rock UCS (over 50 MPa), even the heavy hammer dashing

123
Geological difficulties and countermeasures for …

Based on the reasons above, rock blasting is used to break

the rock at the bottom of socket diaphragm walls, as shown
in Fig. 6. In case of the collapse of the groove wall, smooth
blasting is adopted to break the granite in the construction
of socket diaphragm walls. Smooth blasting is widely used
in tunnel construction (Hinzen 1998; Yamamoto et al.
1999; Mandal et al. 2008). This method can create a
specific opening contour and reduce cracking in the re-
maining material as much as possible (Hinzen 1998). The
aim of smooth blasting is to break a rock mass into small
pieces that the traditional clamshell-shaped digger can
grab. As different blasting parameters can be adopted to
break different kinds of rock, tests should be conducted
before construction to make sure the blasting effect can be
safely predicted in engineering practice.

Modified slurry

As the groundwater table of Shenzhen is between 2 and

3 m below the ground surface, and detrital rocks sink fast
after the rock breaking process, more barite powder and
CMC (carboxymethyl-cellulose) should be put into the
Fig. 7 Schematic diagram of heavy hammer dashing weathered
slurry to increase its specific gravity and viscosity, pre-
granite
venting socket diaphragm wall collapse. The aim is to in-
crease the slurry pressure and make it easier to a form mud
film. Generally, a specific gravity of 1.1 and a viscosity of
35–44 Pa s are adopted. A mud purifier and a submersible
pump are used in conjunction to treat the slurry and filter
out the detrital rocks (Li 2010). The specific gravity and the
viscosity of the slurry should be tested and adjusted ac-
cording to field practice.

Socket diaphragm wall construction in weathered

granite: a case history

Fig. 8 Heavy hammer used to break granite rock Figure 9 shows a plan view of Chaguang Station on Metro
Line 7 in Shenzhen, where construction began in July
method cannot break the rock in which the walls are em- 2013. The dimensions of the pit were 236.6 m 9 19.5 m 9
bedded, which could be slightly weathered or moderately 17 m. The depth of the socket diaphragm walls was 18 m,
weathered granite. In engineering practice, the heavy with a thickness of 800 mm, and these were used to support
hammer cannot break solitary granite boulders either. the pit. As shown in Fig. 9, the socket diaphragm walls

Fig. 9 Plan view of Chaguang

Station on Line 7 in Shenzhen

123
 Q.-L. Cui et al.

Table 2 Depth of socket diaphragm wall embedded into the granite

Trench Moderately Slightly Total
number weathered (m) weathered (m) depth (m)

T1 0.83 6.64 7.47

T2 1.17 6.12 7.29
T3 1.65 5.37 7.02
T4 2.11 4.67 6.78
T5 2.5 4.03 6.53
T6 1.82 4.14 5.96
T7 1 4.27 5.27
T8 0.33 4.38 4.71
T9 – 9.176 9.176
T43 3.31 1.11 4.42
T45 1.76 1.71 3.47
T46 1.76 3.5 5.26
T47 2.76 5.49 8.25
T48 3.75 3.65 7.4 Fig. 10 A piece of granite rock obtained at Chaguang Station on Line
T49 4.33 2.92 7.25 7 in Shenzhen
T50 4.3 2.7 7
T51 4.16 2.52 6.68
T53 4.07 2.32 6.39 broken using the heavy hammer technique. Smooth blast-
T54 3.69 1.34 5.03 ing was adopted to break up the granite. Figure 11a shows
T67 1.31 3.17 4.48 a plan view of the explosives hole and the empty hole in
T68 1.95 2.16 4.11 one section of the socket diaphragm walls. The horizontal
T69 2.71 2.55 5.26 spacing was 650 mm and the vertical spacing was 400 mm.
T70 3.43 2.9 6.33
A schematic diagram of the arrangement of explosives in a
T71 4.63 3.28 7.91
hole is shown in Fig. 11b. Figure 12 shows a schematic
T83 4.55 3.25 7.8
diagram of the smooth blasting process at Chaguang Sta-
tion. After construction of the guide walls, holes with a
T84 2.54 4.74 7.28
diameter of 150 mm are drilled to the design depth
T85 3.61 4.2 7.81
(Fig. 12a), and then the emulsion explosive is put into the
T86 4.68 3.69 8.37
hole using a long bamboo rod (Fig. 12b). The weight of
T87 5.71 3.16 8.87
explosive per side-hole and centre-hole is 4 kg. A total of
T88 5.55 2.61 8.16
56 kg of explosive was needed for one trench section (6-m
T89 5.22 2 7.22
length of socket diaphragm walls). In the case of drill and
T90 4.9 2.85 7.75
blast excavation, the choice of blasting parameters has a
T91 4.17 2.31 6.48
strong effect on the extent and strength of the damage zone
T92 3.2 3.52 6.72
(Hinzen 1998). After preparation, blasting is conducted
T93 2.3 5.24 7.54
(Fig. 12c). The time taken to complete one trench section
T94 1.3 7 8.3
of a socket diaphragm wall was three days. In the end, the
socket diaphragm walls were successfully constructed us-
were divided into 95 trench units 6 m in length. Two sets ing the smooth blasting method.
of reinforced concrete struts and one set of steel struts were
used to support the socket diaphragm walls. Table 2 lists
the depths of the socket diaphragm walls embedded into Conclusions
the granite. The embedded socket depth ranged from 5 to
9 m. 1. Weathered granite is widely distributed and covers
Figure 10 shows a granite rock obtained from the almost half of Shenzhen. In some locations, weathered
geotechnical borehole investigation during the construction granite may be covered by Quaternary sedimentary
of Chaguang Station. The UCS of this rock was 128 MPa, soil, which principally includes backfill, sand, silty
and that of the granite in the construction area of Chaguang clay, and clay with low shear strength at a thickness of
Station ranged between 100 and 180 MPa, which cannot be 0–40 m. Various degrees of weathered granite have

123
Geological difficulties and countermeasures for …

Fig. 11 Layout of explosives 6000

hole and hollow hole in one (a)
section of socket diaphragm 400 650 650 650 650 650 650 650 650 400
wall: a plan view; b schematic

400 400
diagram of explosive

800
arrangement in a hole

Explosive Hole Hollow Hole unit: mm

(b) Stemming
Emulsion explosive Detonator Stemming
Fuse
60 mm
1m 0.6 m 0.4 m 0.6 m 0.4 m 0.6 m 0.4 m

19.1 m

Fig. 12 Schematic diagram of smooth blasting construction at Chaguang station

high UCS. More than 60 % of the solitary granite 2. As the rock is shallowly buried and the depth of deep
boulders are located in a highly weathered granite excavations increases in Shenzhen, socket diaphragm
layer. walls are generally embedded into the hard granite. As

123
 Q.-L. Cui et al.

the traditional clamshell-shaped digger cannot break determination in an undermined area prior to and after exhaust-
the hard granite, problems occur during the construc- ing coal seams, a case study from the Moravian–Silesian region
(Czech Republic). Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 54:9–18
tion of socket diaphragm walls, such as rock breaking, Marschalko M, Yilmaz I, Bednarik M, Kubecka K (2012b) Influence
leakage and socket diaphragm wall collapse. of mining activity on slope deformations genesis: Doubrava
3. Field monitoring can be effectively used to guarantee Vrchovec, Doubrava Ujala and Staric case studies from Czech
project safety during the construction of socket Republic. Eng Geol 147–148:37–51
Marschalko M, Yilmaz I, Bednarik M, Kubecka K, Bouchal T,
diaphragm walls. For moderately and highly weathered Zavada J (2012c) Subsidence map of underground mining
granite with a UCS of less than 50 MPa, the heavy influence for urban planning: an example from the Czech
hammer dropping method is chosen, while for slightly Republic. Q J Eng Geol Hydrogeol 45(2):231–241
weathered or moderately weathered granite, solitary Mi Q, Zhao JZ, Cai JR (2008) New construction technology of
punching groove segment in rock-socketed diaphragm wall.
granite boulders and even fresh granite with a UCS of Constr Technol 37(Suppl 2):144–146 (in Chinese)
more than 50 MPa, the smooth blasting method is Ou CY, Liao JT, Lin HD (1998) Performance of diaphragm wall
adopted instead. A modified slurry can be used to constructed using top–down method. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng
prevent socket diaphragm wall collapse by increasing ASCE 124(9):798–808
Shen SL, Han J, Huang XC, Du SJ (2003) Laboratory studies on
its specific gravity and viscosity. property changes in surrounding clays due to installation of deep
4. Based on the case study, it can be concluded that the mixing columns. Mar Georesour Geotechnol 21(1):15–35
smooth blasting method can satisfy the engineering Shen SL, Xu YS, Hong ZS (2006) Estimation of land subsidence
requirements when constructing socket diaphragm based on groundwater flow model. Mar Georesour Geotechnol
24(2):149–167
walls in granite with a UCS of over 100 MPa. Shen SL, Han J, Du YJ (2008) Deep mixing induced property changes
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Acknowledgments The research work described herein was funded
Shen SL, Horpibulsuk S, Liao SM, Peng FL (2009) Analysis of the
by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant
behavior of DOT tunnel lining caused by rolling correction
No. 41372283) and the National Basic Research Program of China
operation. Tunn Undergr Space Technol 24(1):84–95
(973 Program: 2015CB057806). These financial supports are grate-
Shen SL, Du YJ, Luo CY (2010) Evaluation of the effect of double-o-
fully acknowledged.
tunnel rolling-correction via apply one-side block loading. Can
Geotech J 47(10):1060–1070
Shenzhen Geology (SG) (2009) Geology Press, Beijing, People’
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