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4, 541-576
B. SIMPSON*
The quest for rational methods of designing La recherche de methodes rationnelles de concep-
retaining structures has been pursued for many tion de structures de soutenement a ete entreprise
decades. The existing British code of practice was depuis des dizaines d’annees deja. La norme britan-
first published in 1951 and a committee attempting nique actuelle a et& publiee pour la premiere fois en
to revise it has been sitting for about 20 years; the 1951 et un comite travaille sur sa revision depuis
record of other European countries is little better. environ vingt ans. Les normes des autres pays euro-
A major reason for the difftculty lies in the impor- peens sont a peine meilleures. L’une des difftcultes
tance of soil+tructure interaction to the behaviour principales reside dans I’importance de I’interaction
of retaining walls, and in particular the significance sol-structure sur le comportement des murs de
of displacement in governing the acceptability of a soutenement et, plus particuiierement, dans
particular design. I’amplitude du d&placement qui regit I’acceptation
The Eurocodes, which are currently under devel- ou non d’une structure particuliere.
opment will adopt a partial factor method for Les normes europeenes actuellement a Nude
establishing safety and, incidentally, serviceability. adopteront une methode de facteur partiel pour
At the same time, an editing group working on the calculer la s&trite et, incidemment, la capacite de
British code has concentrated attention on service- service. Parallelement, un group r&ductionnei tra-
ability, but its recommendations for calculations vaillant sur la norme britannique a concentre son
are rather similar to those of the Eurocode. The attention sur la capacite de service et ses recom-
approaches proposed by both these groups will lead mandations de calcul sont tout a fait equivalentes a
to some differences in the designs adopted for con- celles de la norme europeenne. Les approches pro-
struction, when compared with conventional British posees par le deux groupes vont conduire a
design. The background to these approaches is dis- quelques differences entre les formes adopt&s pour
cussed in this Paper. la construction et celles plus conventionnelles de la
In an effort to understand the behaviour of norme britannique. La base de ces approches est
retaining walls, ground movements at many deep itudiee dans cet article.
excavations have been monitored. Besides aiding De facon a mieux comprendre le comportement
understanding of the interaction of ground and des murs de soutenement, les mouvements du sol
walls, this has provided the stimulus for major ont Cte enregistres darts de nombreuses excavations
research and development in fundamental under- profondes. En plus d’une meilleure comprehension
standing of the stress-strain behaviour of soil. des interactions sol-mur, ces etudes ont stimuli!
Results of measurements at the excavation for the d’importantes recherches et diveloppements dans
British Library in London are presented and com- la comprehension fondamentale du comportement
pared with computed soil movements using both contrainte-deformation des SOIS.Les mesures reali-
old and new models of soil behaviour. sees dans la fouille de la British Library a Londres
Largely because of measurements of retaining sont presentees et comparees 1 des mouvements de
wall behaviour, it is now widely recognized that sol calculb numeriquement a la fois a I’aide
most soils exhibit much higher stifhtess at very d’anciens et de nouveaux mod&s de comporte-
small strains than were measured in traditional ment.
laboratory tests on soil specimens. This feature, En raison de ces mesures de comportement de
represented by the S-shaped curve, has been incor- murs de soutenement, il est aujourd’hui largement
porated into a new model of soil behaviour which is reconnu que la plupart des sols prbentent, a petites
based on a simple analogue. Despite its simplicity, deformations, des raideurs superieures i celles
the analogue leads to predictions of a surprising mesurees sur des echantillons de sol lors d’essais de
range of soil properties for both normally consoli- laboratoire traditionnels. Ce fait, reprbente par la
dated and overconsolidated states. The model is ‘co&e en S’, a ete integre a un nouveau modele de
readily incorporated into a finite element program comportement des sols base sur une analogie
and reproduces the ground movements measured at simple. Malgre sa simplicite, cette analogie conduit
a predire une categoric suprenante de proprietes
des sols pour des &tats normalement ou sur-
* Arup Geotechnics, London. consolides. Le modele est directement incorpore a
541
542 SIMF‘SON
the British Library excavation fairly well, together un programme d’ClCments finis et reproduit rela-
with those of a deep excavation in soft clay from tivement bien les mouvements de sol mesurb dans
Singapore. It is used to provide further understand- la fouille de la British Library, ainsi que ceux
ing and justification for the design methods being mesurb sur une excavation profonde dans des
developed in the European and British codes of argiles molles de Singapour. Le modhle a Ctk utilisk
practice. pour obtenir une comprkhension et une justification
The importance of displacement and strain des mkthodes de conception en tours de dkveloppe-
forms a recurrent theme in the Paper. ment dans les normes europkennes et britanniques.
L’importance des dkplacements et des dkforma-
KEYWORDS: clays; finite element methods; numerical tions est un thkme permanent de cet article.
modelling; retaining walls; soilstructure interaction
5 ACh?
\
Y
\
c+
: br
0 2 cc
. Loose sand
,
h
+
8 1-o
z
E
.g 0.5
E
0$ c -4
__---
0.2
I 1 / I I
I 0.02 0 0.02 C 14
Wall rotation h/h
0.1
, I
0.004 0.02 0.04 O-06 Fig. 2. Relationship between earth pressure and wall
Wall rotatm h/h rotation computed by Potts & Fourie (1986) for over-
consolidated clay
Fig. 1. Relationship between earth pressure and wall
rotation measured by Terzaghi for normally consolidated
sand (different scales for active and passive)
zontal stresses in relation to its new, reduced ver-
tical stresses. For stiff clay with K, = 2, the
Mobilization of passive pressure shaded area in Fig. 3 was computed to have
British thinking about earth pressures on walls reached a passive state, even when the wall was
has been greatly influenced by the experimental completely prevented from moving. It is clear that
results published by Terzaghi (1954) and shown beneath an excavation passive pressures develop
in Fig. 1. He rotated a small model wall into or without large displacement of the wall.
away from a bed of sand--either loose or densely
packed-and recorded the amount of rotation
needed to reach the active and passive states. He Safety factors in codes of practice
found that the active state was reached with very Most modern codes of practice, including the
little movement, but much more movement was Eurocodes, are based on the limit state method.
needed to reach the passive state. This has led to In this method, consideration of stability is, in
the concept that only a small proportion of the principle, separated from consideration of dis-
passive pressure should be used in design. It is
argued that if the wall is proportioned so that this
is in equilibrium with the active pressure, then the
movement of the wall will be small.
Terzaghi’s results were for sand which had not
been preloaded and so had an initial coefficient of
earth pressure K, of about 0.43. More recently,
Potts & Fourie (1986) carried out a series of com-
puter studies intended to represent over-
consolidated clay for which K, could be as high
as 2. Their results, shown in Fig. 2 suggested that
for these conditions similar amounts of move-
ment were required to approach either active or
passive conditions. However this conclusion must
be treated with caution because the clay was rep-
resented as linear elastic until it reached its
maximum shear strength; this unrealistic feature
might have influenced the results.
Figure 3 shows another important result illus-
trated by Potts & Fourie. In most situations
where passive pressure is to be mobilized, the
ground is at the base of an excavation. This Fig. 3. Zone of soil at passive yield beneath excavation
means that overburden has recently been with fully restrained wall, computed by Potts & Fourie
removed from it and it naturally has high hori- (19%)
544 SIMPSON
placement in the working state. The codes wall is in service, dko,, or c,,s. Their method
emphasize the need for factors of safety to ensure relates mobilized strength to an assessment of
that collapse of a structure is extremely unlikely movement, relying on the availability of high
to occur, since the design must have enough in quality test data for the soils involved. Mobilized
reserve to remain stable while subjected to a strength can be related back to the peak strength,
reasonable range of unforeseen events. or perhaps to the critical state strength of the soil
In general, these codes implicitly assume that by factors which are used like safety factors, but
displacements will be a secondary problem, they are better understood as serviceability or
related only to minor ‘serviceability’ limit states, mobilization factors.
and can be estimated with sufficient reliability by Generally, the partial factors y are defined in
direct, if crude, calculation. However, in the case terms of making collapse sufficiently unlikely,
of retaining walls displacements may be larger while the idea of mobilized strength is related to
than normally expected in concrete or steel struc- control of movement. In the Author’s view, both
tures. If the retained soil supports other structures these aims must be achieved; the choice of
or services, ground movements could be large symbol is not important.
enough to cause severe distress to them even
though the retaining wall itself is quite stable. The
distress may be sufliciently severe to constitute an Safety factors in design of retaining walls
‘ultimate’ limit state, in the definition of the codes. Factors of safety used for the design of
The best available information about likely retaining walls can be defined in a number of
movements of walls comes from past experience ways, of which three are illustrated in Fig. 4.
and recorded case histories. Displacements can be Method (a) is based on Terzaghi’s finding that
calculated but both experience and calculations passive pressure required more movement to
are only useful if the wall being designed will be mobilize it than did active pressure. In this
as remote from collapse as other walls with which method, the passive pressure used in design is
it can be compared. The new wall must mobilize reduced by a factor F,, commonly taken to be 2.
a similar proportion of the soil’s strength as have In method (b) the strength of the soil used in the
others for which there is experience or from design is reduced by a factor which can have one
which calculation methods have been developed. of the symbols F, , F, or y, This has the effect of
Thus, apart from ensuring stability, factors of increasing the active pressure and reducing the
safety used in design of retaining walls have a passive pressure. In both these methods, equi-
second important function in controlling the pro- librium must be achieved with these modified
portion of the soil’s strength which is mobilized in earth pressures, shown as shaded zones in Fig. 4.
the working state, hence limiting displacement. In either scheme the factors can be chosen both
The factors may be expressed in several ways. to provide a margin against collapse and/or with
The symbols F, and F, will be used to represent the intention of limiting deformation.
factors applied to the strength of the soil or to CIRIA’s Report 104, which is frequently used
tan @, where 4’ is the angle of shearing resist- for design of walls in Britain, provides values for
ance. The Eurocodes use a partial factor y, which F,. The report requires the user to assess ‘moder-
is applied in the same way. In conventional ately conservative’ values for the strength param-
British practice a factor F, is applied to the eters of the soil and then to apply factors of 1.2 to
passive pressure, generally taken to be the effec- 1.5 to tan 4’. It notes that 1.5 should usually be
tive pressure only in calculations for the drained used for angles of friction less than 30”, which
state. includes most clays.
Bolton et al. (1990a, b) draw attention to the Method (c) of Fig. 4 is taken from British
strength of the soil actually mobilized when the Steel’s Piling Handbook (1988). It requires equi-
F, = 2 7, F, or F,,>
= i-2 to 1.5 Fn,
(4 (b) CC)
10 kPa Im,
Factor of Length. Bending moment M/M,
safety m M: kNm/m
F=l 15.2 M, = 1148 1
F, = 2 21 .a 2255 1.96
F,, = 1.5 21.3 2510 2.19
F, = 1.2 17.4 1550 1.35
CIRIA 104 21.3 1722 1.5
Potts & Foune 2.1
F, = 1.2 19.5 2117 i .a4
10% extra
excavation
Full passive 19.5 2586 2-25
Fig. 6. Calculated lengths and bending moments for an embedded retaining wall using differ-
ing factors of safety
546 SIMPSON
structures earth pressures tend to become redis- strength are to be used with unit factors on dead
tributed in a manner which reduces bending loads and small factors on variable loads, so the
moments. He proposed reduction factors to be partial factors applied to soil strength are almost
applied to bending moments which were calcu- the only safety factors for many retaining wall
lated using full factors of safety and linear dis- problems. In effect they are equivalent to the
tributions of earth pressure. These concepts were strength factor F, or the mobilization factor men-
developed in relation to the behaviour of flexible tioned earlier. This system has no direct equiva-
sheet pile walls in granular soils, for which the lent to the factor on passive pressure or on net
active condition is reached in the retained soil pressure.
with small movement. Calibration studies carried out by the Author
Stiff clays generally have high initial coefficient (unpublished) and by Pang (1992) suggest that
of earth pressure K, and require larger strains to this approach will not change the designs
mobilize their strength than do granular soils. obtained for gravity retaining walls significantly
Numerical analyses such as the work of Potts & and these are not discussed further.
Fourie (1986) have suggested that passive This Paper is concerned mainly with retaining
restraint beneath an excavation will be fully walls in clays, but one issue related to dense
mobilized, but the earth pressure in the retained granular materials will be noted here because it
soil will also remain significantly above the active may influence the overall scheme of safety factors.
limit if the wall is sufficiently long and stiff. In this In Fig. 7, wall A, penetrating 1.25 m into a soil
case, the bending moment in service may exceed with a high angle of friction, has a factor of safety
2 M,. of unity, so its design would not be acceptable by
any of the methods in Fig. 4. Wall B, penetrating
2 m, would be acceptable by current British stan-
Factored strength and unplanned excavation dards, but wall C is theoretically on the point of
These concepts are currently under discussion failure. Walls B and C have the same length, but
in two code committees: the drafting panel of the excavation at wall C is 0.5 m deeper. When
Eurocode 7 and an editing group working on the the passive material has a high angle of friction
British Standards Institution (BSI) code on very little penetration is needed to achieve nor-
retaining structures. Eurocode 7 first defines the mally specified factors of safety, yet the safety
characteristic value of the strength of the soil, to could easily be removed by a relatively minor
which a partial factor is applied to derive a design event (human activity or natural erosion) near the
value to be entered into calculations. The defini- base of the wall. For this reason both the Euro-
tion of characteristic value is contentious, being code panel and the present BSI editing group are
intended to lead to a realistic but cautious assess- considering the requirement that an upper layer
ment of the strength of the soil in its field situ- of passive soil should be disregarded in calcu-
ation. lations. In practice, redistribution of active earth
The current draft of Eurocode 7 indicates that pressure towards the prop might make any of the
the partial factor on tan 4’ will probably be in walls in Fig. 7 slightly safer than simple calcu-
the range 1.2-1.25, and that on c’ or c, in the lations suggest, but the general argument present-
range 1.5-13. The precise values should, in prin- ed here still holds.
ciple, be decided separately for each nation, but in In undrained clays it is normal practice to treat
practice it may prove difficult to reject any con- the upper metre or so of clay very cautiously and
sensus view which may emerge. These factors on a similar approach is appropriate in other soil
--
rn’ = 40
types when a thin top layer of passive soil is par- failure is not unacceptably high for a design
ticularly important. It might be wise to disregard based on F, = 1.2-1.3.
it in design. This constitutes an additional safety For the example in Fig. 6, a design using F, =
element which will influence the required values 1.2 and disregarding the top 0.7 m of passive soil
of other factors and also makes it more appropri- yields a length of 19.5 m, rather shorter than the
ate to adopt a uniform factor on strength across a more traditional British lengths. The bending
wide range of angles of friction. moment is higher (1.84 M,), though still not as
The Eurocode 7 panel and the BSI editing large as might be derived by numerical analysis.
group have approached the question of factor of For these situations the proposal moves in the
safety from two different philosophies, but their right direction, but there is a need for further
current proposals (still under debate) are fairly study of this type of problem using both finite
similar in practical application. Their main fea- element methods and also model tests. The results
tures are as follows. are sensitive to the relative stiffness of soil and
wall, so realistic models of soil behaviour and of
(4 A factor of about 1.2 is applied to tan 4’, and the wall itself are essential.
this is combined with a requirement to disre-
gard the top layer of passive soil, which could
be specified as 0.5 m or as 10% of the
retained height of a cantilever or of the height
Displacement related to mobilized strength
below the lowest prop. In clays, these two
Bolton et nl. (1990a, b) published a method of
items together will be equivalent to a factor
relating displacements to the degree of mobi-
on tan I$’ of about 1.3.
lization of the soil strength, or to the strength
U4 The codes will probably specify a minimum factor F,. This could be used to assess the effect
surcharge to be assumed as part of the design,
on displacements of lower factors of safety and
at least for the ultimate limit state check.
shorter walls in stiff clays. Fig. 8 is derived using
(4 They will also require a realistic assessment of their method for a cantilever retaining wall in
the maximum bending moment which can
London Clay assuming water levels at the
occur in service. In some cases this could be
retained and excavated soil surfaces and an angle
considerably in excess of the values calculated
of wall friction 6 equal to 4’. Calculated wall
as part of the initial stability analysis of the
lengths and displacements are compared for
wall and could well exceed the values current-
various strength factors F, or mobilization
ly obtained by application of CIRIA Report
factors, taking F, = 1.5 as the base case for com-
104. parison. As the factor is reduced towards 1.2 the
(4 More detailed soil-structure interaction
calculated length of the wall decreases by 10 to
analysis is permitted, even encouraged, and in
20%-a significant saving in commercial terms.
some cases this could yield lower design
The displacement of the wall only increases fairly
bending moments. gradually and does not become critical for F, >
The broad implications of these proposals will 1.2. This provides an indication that a strength
be that generally in clays walls would be some- factor in the range 1.2-1.3 will not lead to unac-
what shorter, but they will be slightly longer in ceptable displacements in stiff clays. Again, a
dense granular soils. Stiff concrete walls in clays more detailed numerical analysis would be
will be required to be stronger, but they may cost helpful, and an example is presented later in this
less because of their reduced length. Paper.
Adopting shorter walls in clays will inevitably
increase the risk of rotational failure and dis-
placements in service will also be greater.
However, this statement has no significance until
the magnitudes of the risks and displacements are
assessed. With regard to rotational failure CIRIA
Report 104 concluded that use of F, = 1.2 could
be regarded as normal practice for angles of fric-
tion greater than 30” where the results are not
much different from the older method applying
F, = 2. Furthermore, sheet pile walls designed to I I I I
I I
01
the net pressure method have low real factors of 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 16
safety but generally perform satisfactorily. Since Factor on tan @
the angles of shearing resistance of clay soils are
no more uncertain than those of granular soils, it Fig. 8. Variation with factor of safety of length and dis-
can be concluded that the risk of rotational placement of cantilever retaining wall in London Clay
548 SIMPSON
CASE STUDY-THE BRITISH LIBRARY London Clay and about 5 m into the clays of the
BASEMENT Woolwich and Reading beds. It was constructed
The development of understanding of the by top-down methods: the underreamed piles
behaviour of stiff clays has been advanced in were built first leaving cased bores above them
recent years by the measurement of ground into which columns were subsequently placed.
movements around deep excavations. A sequence Water levels in the chalk aquifer beneath the site
of very valuable case studies has been published, have been depressed by pumping during the past
including the measurements of ground movement two centuries and this has led to reduced piezo-
at the Houses of Parliament underground car- metric pressures in the clays. Relief wells were
park (Burland & Hancock, 1977), work by the constructed so that the foundations and the toes
then Transport and Road Research Laboratory of the retaining wall will not be disrupted as
(Symons & Carder, 1989) and the work at Bell groundwater levels in the aquifer rise in the
Common and other Papers in the 1984 future. Gound movements around the south area
G&technique symposium in print. In the early are considered in this Paper.
1980s construction began on the new building for
the British Library, and some aspects of the
observations of ground movement at that site will Early stages of excavation
be described here. The first site activity in 1982 was excavation to
The site for the British Library is located on about 5 m depth more or less simultaneously
Euston Road adjacent to St Pancras Station in with construction of most of the retaining walls.
London, as shown in Fig. 9. Across adjacent Inclinometers were cast into the walls, but unfor-
streets the site is surrounded by buildings, and tunately many of them were commissioned after
London Underground’s Metropolitan Line lies the initial 5 m excavation had taken place and so
about 6 m from its southern boundary just below they missed the early movement. Next, the bored
street level. The Victoria Line and the Northern piles were constructed in the south area leaving
Line underlie the northern part of the site which 2 m diameter cased borings above them with the
is referred to as the central area. The south area annulus outside the corrugated casing backfilled
has four levels of basement and is about 25 m with pea gravel. Due to financial constraints there
deep while the central area is up to 15 m deep. was very little activity on site at this stage for
Figure 10 shows a north-south section through about a year. During this period it was noted that
the site. The south area extends through the the Metropolitan Line tunnel, which had settled
North South
Fill
London Clay
Relief wells
about 8 mm during the initial excavation, recov- of the total area of the piles in plan. This figure is
ered 5 mm, probably indicating some dissipation similar to the ground loss recorded in tunnelling
of negative pore pressures. operations.
Figure 11 shows displacements recorded by
inclinometers mounted in the walls at the end of
that period. The best continuous record from an Excavation completed
early stage is obtained from F75, located on the In the south area excavation generally pro-
south wall as shown in Fig. 9. At a few points ceeded floor by floor with each slab being cast
where instruments were available, ground move- before it was undermined. However, at the lowest
ment caused by construction of the walls was too basement level a very stringent method of con-
small to measure accurately, certainly not exceed- struction was adopted. As shown in Fig. 12, a
ing 5 mm. However, it seemed that construction cruciform area was excavated and concreted first
of the bored piling caused inward movement of while most of the retaining walls were still sup-
the walls of up to about 10 mm, equivalent to 1% ported by soil at this level. This area was then
-0.4 mOD
f slab
first
Fig. 11. Wall movements for initial 5 m excavation at Fig. 12. Sequence of construction of El4 slab at British
British Library Library
550 SIMPSON
extended outwards in a piecemeal manner, repla- water and probably indicates a process of cavi-
cing the soil berms by concrete as rapidly as pos- tation in the clay allowing undrained expansion.
sible. This procedure may have restricted Figure 15 shows results from inclinometers in
movement significantly. the walls, firstly when the excavation had reached
Figure 13 shows a bird’s eye view of the site at basement 3 (the B3 stage) and then at the end of
the end of construction of the basement structure. construction at basement 4. For back-analysis,
The pattern of wall movement was fairly uniform, the B3 stage may be more helpful because the
including 15-20 mm at the toe of the wall. excavation is almost entirely in London Clay at
Measurements from inclinometers in boreholes that stage and the rather complicated and
were not very reliable and the results were adjust- restrictive construction sequence used at B4 is
ed to be consistent with the surface traverse avoided. Inclinometer F75, which was commis-
survey. Fig. 14 shows that the picture obtained sioned before many of the others, recorded the
from two boreholes, inclinometer F75 in the wall biggest movements and it is likely that this is the
and surveying inside the Metropolitan Line most reliable indicator of overall movement.
tunnel together form a consistent picture. Results
from magnet extensometers inside the site (also
shown in Fig. 14) consistently indicated rapid Computation of displacements
volumetric expansion of the clay after excavation. Various computations of movement were
This appeared to be unrelated to availability of carried out before and after construction. In the
work reported here the main steps of the compu-
tations have been
North South
(a) initial undrained excavation to about 5 m
depth
(b) enforced loss of ground of 1% of the plan area
of the piles, together with recovery to a fully
drained state
(c) undrained excavation in stages for the
remainder of the basement
(d) recovery to fully drained state.
The drainage in stage (b) corresponds to a two-
year delay on the site (1982-1984) during which
Fig. 14. Displacements on section AA (Fig. 9) at end of the Metropolitan Line tunnel was observed to
construction at British Library recover some of the settlement that had pre-
RETAINING STRUCTURES: DISPLACEMENT AND DESIGN
-_(
I I I \
30 20 10 30 20 10 0
Displacement: mm Displacement: mm
(a) W
Fig. 15. Wall displacements at British Library: (a) at excavation to B3; (b) at end of construction
viously occurred. Movement computed in stage probably gives a more reliable picture of the
(d) was governed by assumptions about the creep actual movements.
properties of the concrete floor slabs and is not At the time British Library was designed there
discussed here. The stiffnesses of the floor-struts was concern that stiffnesses of the order shown in
were calculated assuming the Young’s modulus of Fig. 16 were not measured in laboratory tests on
concrete to be 20 kN/mm’, with allowance for samples of the soil. It was fashionable in the
the presence of openings in the slabs. 1970s to conclude that samples obtained from
Figure 16 shows the results of linear elastic boreholes were so badly disturbed that they
finite element runs characterizing the undrained revealed nothing useful about stiffness. There was
Young’s modulus E, by its ratio with the a little evidence to suggest that the reason for this
undrained shear strength c,. The value EJc, = might be that laboratory tests were failing to
500 agrees closely with the stiffness profile derived measure stiffness in the range of very small strains
from observations at Britannic House and used which are relevant around deep excavations.
by Ward & Burland (1973) in design of the Thinking it was important to investigate this,
Houses of Parliament underground car-park. So Simpson, O’Riordan & Croft (1979) developed a
the computed displacements shown by the solid model of soil behaviour that could be used in
lines in Fig. 16 were available during the design finite element analyses and which had the features
of the basement, but there was some uncertainty shown in Fig. 17. In particular, at very small
about the justification of extrapolating results strains (as shown in the inset) it was assumed that
from one excavation to another larger one on the its stiffness was ten times greater than values
basis of linear behaviour. The measurements have measured in laboratory tests. This behaviour was
shown that this would, in fact, have given a rea- achieved by the use of a kinematic yield surface
sonable prediction of wall movement, especially represented in strain space. Laboratory tests mea-
since the upper end of the range of measurements suring very small strains were not available at
SIMPSON
Dbsplacement: mm Dlsplacement: mm
(a) UN
Fig. 16. Measured wall displacement at British Library compared with results of elastic finite element analysis
that time, so the details of the model were some- In this work the value adopted for the coeffi-
what arbitrary; the intention was to allow a stress cient of earth pressure at rest K, was 1.8, deter-
change of about 10% of in situ stress with very mined largely on the basis of pressuremeter tests
little strain. Besides displaying the features shown (Simpson et a[. 1981). This was higher than could
in Fig. 17, it was assumed throughout that be calculated on the basis of the geological
stiffness was proportional to (s + c’ cot 4’) in history of the site, allowing for the effects of
which s = (ui’ + a,‘)/2. The model was checked reduced water pressures due to groundwater
in a back analysis of the excavation at the Houses lowering in the underlying aquifer. The analysis
of Parliament and it predicted both the magni- has therefore been repeated using the same stress-
tude and pattern of ground movements quite strain model with K, = 1.4, but this made little
well. difference to the results. Burland, Simpson & St
The model was developed to check that the John (1979) argued that an assumption of axial
ground movements at British Library were not symmetry is more appropriate to computations
underestimated in design. In the event it has for square excavations than is plane strain and
proved to be much too soft and the computed that in some cases this significantly affects the
wall movements were actually about double those results. However, for this problem it is found in
that were measured. In the results shown in both linear and non-linear analyses that this
Fig. 18, standard allowances were incorporated effect is minimal, perhaps because the depth to a
for long-term shrinkage and creep of the floor relatively rigid stratum is small compared with
slabs and this contributed considerable extra the plan dimensions of the excavation.
movements-the difference between the short-
term and long-term curves. In the event virtually SOIL BEHAVES LIKE BRICKS ON STRINGS
none of this has taken place in almost five years The model described above was formulated
since construction. about 15 years ago; since then understanding of
RETAINING STRUCTURES: DISPLACEMENT AND DESIGN 553
300 I r ! I I how soil stiffness is high when the strains are
small but reduces as straining proceeds. Strain is
usually plotted on a log scale for this purpose.
This representation of soil behaviour has been in
use in soil dynamics for many years (e.g. Seed &
200 Idriss, 1970), and its application in static behav-
iour was a particular feature of the Tenth Euro-
pean Conference on Soil Mechanics and
m Foundation Engineering, held in Florence in
4
v,
1991. During this conference the author was
2 100 questioned about methods of modelling the
(D behaviour of stiff clay, particularly Gault Clay, at
5 small strains and this conversation led to the
f5 development of the ideas described here.
It is a common assumption that strains can be
0
divided into those which are elastic and those
which are plastic. Generally, elastic components
of strain cause changes of stress; plastic com-
ponents cause no change of stress. As a material
yields and becomes less stiff, its elastic stiffness
does not diminish as a function of strain. Evi-
77
i
I I I I I
I \I I \ -10
30 20 10 0 30 20 10 0
D@acement: mm
(a) (b)
Fig. 18. Measured wall displacement at British Library compared with finite elements using the 1979 model
An analogue
A physical analogue bears a striking resem-
blance to this type of behaviour. Imagine a man
0 walking around a room and pulling behind him a
series of bricks, each on a separate string. Some
s possible paths for the man and the strings are
I
0 ._
zs shown in Fig. 22. If he walks continuously in one
$8 direction the bricks line up behind him and
h
follow him (Fig. 22(a)). If he turns back (Fig.
22(b)) the bricks initially do not move; then the
ones on shorter strings start to move, gradually
100% followed by the longer strings (Fig. 22(c)). If he
log (strain) turns through 90”, the bricks initially keep
(4 moving in their previous direction but gradually
Fig. 19. The S-shaped curve swing round behind him (Fig. 22(d)). The simi-
RETAINING STRUCTURES: DISPLACEMENT AND DESIGN 555
the analogue, none of the bricks is moving. As Fig. 20. Results obtained by Richardson (1988) for stress
straining proceeds one of the bricks starts to path OX: (a) stress paths; (b) S-shaped curves showing
move, plastic strain begins and there is a drop in tangent shear stilfness
300 300
Normal p: kPa Normal p: kPa
Additional assumptions
The brick concept could be used in conjunction
with a variety of additional equations describing
other features of the soil behaviour. A series of
assumptions taken from critical state soil mecha-
nics are used here to complete the model. The
Fig. 23. The S-shaped carve represented in stepwise values of parameters used in this Paper for all
fashion computations involving London Clay, including
RETAINING STRUCTURES: DISPLACEMENT AND DESIGN 557
ss cc s&I, (1)
6s = sbv,/r (2)
The value I = 0.0041 has been used here. Ini-
tially a value of 0.0032 was adopted and
published by Simpson (1993), but the derivation
ii.01 0.1 1 13
had not allowed correctly for the effect of the
Shear strain y: %
parameter /?, described below, in Richardson’s
(W
and Viggiani’s laboratory tests. Viggiani (1992)
reports the results of small strain tests on triaxial Fig. 24. BRICK model predictions for Richardson’s (1988)
specimens equipped with Hall effect transducers tests
and bender elements. She proposes that the shear
modulus at very small strain G,,, is proportional is equivalent to GmaJs = 146, it follows that
to PO+=, not s1 as presently assumed in the model. (1 - 2v)/1 = 146, from which I = 0.0041 for
However, line AA on Fig. 25(a) lies close to Vig- v = 0.2.
giani’s data for normally consolidated clay and Elastic shear st@ess. This is derived from
corresponds to G,,,/p = 146. Assuming that this elastic volumetric stiffness assuming a constant
Table 1. Parameter values used for London Clay and Singapore marine clay
I
length of material length of material
1 0.000083 0.92 0.08 O.OOQO8 0.92 0.08
2 0~00021 0.75 0.17 0.0002 0.75 0.17
3 0~00041 0.53 0.22 0~0004 0.53 0.22
4 0~00083 0.29 0.24 OXJOO~ 0.29 0.24
5 0.0022 0.13 0.16 oNJ2 0.13 0.16
6 oxI 1 0.075 0.055 oxKl4 0.075 0.055
I 0.0082 0.044 0.031 0@08 0.044 0.03 1
8 0.021 0.017 0,027 0,018 0,017 0.027
9 0,041 0@035 0.0135 0.036 oJMI35 0.0135
10 0.08 0 0+)035 0.075 0 0.0035
,?=O.l K=0.02 l=0.0041 ),=O.l K=@&t 1=OG032
Y= 0.2 p = 4 Y = 0.2 B = 4
Implied dLri, = 22” Implied @Lri,= 26”
558 S #IMPSON
1
10 100 1000 Results for normally consolidated soil
p: kPa
Although the model was initially intended to
(a) represent overconsolidated clay, its predictions
for normally consolidated soil are found to be of
interest. The results to be shown here were com-
puted using a constant set of parameters of the
model and in each case the strains were specified
as input to the computer program. The stresses
and stiffnesses were computed for the specified
strains.
Figure 26 shows strain and stress paths for
undrained tests on normally consolidated clays.
The computed results in Fig. 26(c) and (f) are
remarkably similar to the measurements in Fig.
26(b) and (e). Furthermore, each computed result
O.lL ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ is found to fail at the same angle of shearing
-0.1 0 0 1 O-2 0.3 0.4 0.5 O-6 O-7 0.8 O-9
resistance, in this case 22”, although this is not
Log (OCR)
explicitly a parameter of the model. Other
(b)
drained and undrained stress paths all fail at the
Fig. 25. BRICK predictions compared with test results of same angle of shearing resistance for the same set
Viggiani (1992) of material parameters.
The tendency to fail at a constant angle of
shearing resistance can be explained by reference
Poisson’s ratio v. Thus, for plane strain to Fig. 27. If the S-shaped curve is plotted using
tangent shear modulus G, and assuming stillness
6t = sSy,(l - 2v)/r
proportional to mean stress s then the area under
It is possible that Poisson’s ratio for elastic the curve A determines the stress ratio at failure
strains should be varied as a function of stress and is therefore equal to sin 4’. If the S-shaped
state, but this has not been investigated and curve in this form is constant, q5’will be constant.
v = 0.2 has been assumed. This is easily shown for the case s = constant
Consolidation and swelling. When the normal
stress on a frictional body is increased, its ability A = (GJs) dy
to strain elastically without slip is also increased. s
Hence it would be expected that as mean normal
stress is increased the soil’s capacity to strain elas-
tically and so to accept further normal and shear
stresses will be extended. This gives rise to the
= (l/s)
= t/s
sWdy) dy
Normal stress: p
Normal stress: p
VJ) [ (e)
s: kPa
@I -25l
0 50
s’ kPa
(f)
Fig. 26. Undrained tests on normally consolidated clays: (a) strain path for plane strain; (b) triaxial tests on
kaolin (Loudon, 1967); (c) BRICKresult for London Clay in plane strain; (d) strain paths for onedimensional
consolidation in plane strain; (e) triaxial tests on kaolin (Balasubramaniam, 1967); and (f) BRICK result
s: kPa
(a)
800
0.1
Axlalstram %
(b)
samples and it may be that this is not appropriate and strain, including the initial positions of the
for extremely small strains. ‘bricks’. The basic subroutine used to derive stress
increments from strain increments is presented in
Appendix 1. The mode1 has been found to be very
USE OF THE BRICK MODEL IN A FINITE easy to use, invariably giving good convergence
ELEMENT PROGRAM and smoothly distributed stress and strain fields.
The BRICK model is ideal for use in a finite It has been implemented for use in both DOS and
element program because, unlike most plasticity UNIX versions of the Arup Geotechnics program
models, it derives stress increments from strain SAFE, using eight-node plane strain elements with
increments. The model itself requires about 80 four integration points. Undrained behaviour is
executable lines of Fortran and an additional modelled as described by Simpson et al. (1979).At
program is needed to set up initial states of stress the start of each computation the geological
RETAINING STRUCTURES: DISPLACEMENT AND DESIGN 563
LSF
B4 \ \
30 20 10 0 30 20 10 0
Displacement: mm Displacement: mm
(a) (b)
Fig. 33. BRICK computed wall movements (thick lines) for British Library compared with measurements
require amendment to achieve the measured of the site was limited to 15 m, and vertical fixity
shear strengths. For the desiccated layer the addi- was assumed on the apparent centreline. Strut
tional preconsolidation was 550 kPa. stiffnesses and a small amount of prestress were
In order to represent the effect of the caissons taken from the work of Wallace et al. (1993). The
near the centre of cross-section BB, the half-width comparison of measured and computed displace-
- 50mm
/’
. i-/
/ ..
n
,..-
J
I.
/
i’ /
I’.,
/
/
l.. /
b-
,>. ,.’ . . ’
,
. ..
-.. . .. .- .- ._ .- ..
.... _. -.. . .. 1.
.- . .
t
1.
t
Fig. 34. BRICK computed ground displacements for British Library compared with measure-
ments (computed results shown dotted)
RETAINING STRUCTURES: DISPLACEMENT AND DESIGN 565
B
E W
I
102- Fill
Soft clay
Eg2-
5 Sand and firm clay
‘$82.
Soft clay
3
iz
Residual soil
72 Toe of diaphragm wall
Bouldery clay
621
B J
0 20 m
I I I
Fig. 35. Cross-section through the UOB project, Singapore
ments shown in Fig. 39 indicates that the BRICK Figure 40 shows the vector pattern of
model represents the overall behaviour of the undrained movement in which the influence of
ground quite well, assuming undrained behav- vertical fixity on the apparent centreline is clear.
iour. More detailed measurements of ground
movements are not available, but the magnitude
and shape of the wall movements is well repro- Other applications of the model
duced. The parameters used here are similar to The original reason for developing the model
those for London Clay; the main difference lies in was to back-analyse an excavation in Gault Clay,
the stress history of the site. and results of this work will shortly be published
Scale
0 40 m D Extent of new basement
L-II
c,: kPa
,Op, 20 40 60 80 100 170
-.t*
+**
-.+t;c softclay
92
8.
l
..HY
+ **_** .
t
I/
F
I I I I
E
s-- OO 20 40 60 80 100
. . ++
l
ti s: kPa
.; 82 +,*- -
Fig. 38. One-dimensional consolidation and swelling fol-
5 . . lowed by undrained shear for Singapore soft clay at ele-
w . l
. . vation 92 m
+ . +
+
72
. Soft clay The finite element program is not limited to
excavations and the BRICK model is now in use
i - for problems including foundations, tunnels,
- - -
_-
t- 1 interpretation of field testing and so on. Simpson
(1992) presents a successful application to back-
analysis of pressuremeter tests.
+ UU triaxial
. Vane (uncorrected)
Fig. 37. Results of in situ vane tests for UOB, Singapore FACTORS OF SAFETY RELATED TO
NON-LINEAR BEHAVIOUR
The development of non-linear models such as
BRICK makes it possible to investigate the effects
by Ng (1992). Since there has been little research of varying wall lengths and so to check the effects
in Gault Clay, it is more difftcult to be confident of changing the factor of safety used in equi-
about parameter values, so values have been librium calculations. Fig. 41 shows displacement
derived by fitting the model to the results of field vectors for the 8 m excavation considered earlier,
testing, including dynamic tests. assuming a 1 m thick concrete wall (E = 20 GPa)
:
Displacement: mm
0 80 0 80 0 80 160
-1
Tl
*.
PI-
T2
92-
.I
T3
E
: :
s :
‘s 82- ,’
,’ **’
4 **’ I’
w ,’
72 - ,,*’ ,’
,’
,’
F ,’
3’ ,’
62’ u
J 5
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4
n Fill ~ Measured
__ Brick
Fig. 39. Measured and computed wall displacements for UOB, Singapore
RETAINING STRUCTURES: DISPLACEMENT AND DESIGN 567
10kPa
. . .
. . .
.
. . .
. - .
- . .
- . c
. . .
. * .
. . .
. f *
Fig. 42. Contours of I&,,~ at the junction of the retaining Fig. 43. Contours of $&b for model with maximum
wall and excavated surface 9’==0
and using BRICK with parameters similar to those high resistance would not survive disturbance due
for London Clay in Table 1. A detail of the junc- to seasonal fluctuations in the ground. In the
tion of the wall with the excavated surface is present state of knowledge it would be unwise to
shown in Fig. 42, showing mobilized angles of rely on these high angles of friction in design, and
shearing resistance. Although this model in its it would be difficult to relate this material to con-
normally consolidated state has an angle of ventional factors of safety.
shearing resistance of only 20”, much higher The parameters of the BRICK model can be
angles are mobilized at the excavated surface in modified to create a more artificial material
the overconsolidated clay. In the light of recent which has a similar stiffness to that of London
studies of the behaviour of stiff clays in this con- Clay but will fail at 25”. This was achieved by
dition (Burland & Fourie, 1985; Fourie & Potts, reducing t in the ratio sin 20”/sin 25” and using
1991), these results might be quite realistic, b = 0 so that there is no additional effect of over-
although Stewart (1990) has suggested that the consolidation. Fig. 43 shows contours of mobi-
soil might be in an unstable state and that the lized @ for such a material Only a small zone has
10 kPa
Fig. 44. Computed wall displacements for: (a) varying wall length; (b) varying wall stifiess
RETAINING STRUCTURES: DISPLACEMENT AND DESIGN 569
reached a completely passive state, while a much A set of computer runs cannot solve important
larger zone has mobilized an angle of shearing problems in a final manner. However, an
resistance of more than 20”. In contrast, smaller improved understanding of soil behaviour, rep-
angles are mobilized in the retained soil, indicat- resented by a variety of numerical models now
ing that the soil is still far from the active state. available, can help to clarify these difficult ques-
The rapidly changing contours in the upper half tions about validity of factors of safety-or
of the wall indicate the changes from active under factors of serviceability-in codes of practice.
the surcharge, to passive below the prop, and More work of this sort is needed in support of the
back towards active further down. codes, together with model testing--especially
Figure 44(a) shows the wall lengths for different centrifuge tests-used in parallel to ensure that
calculated factors of safety. The shorter walls are the computer does not mislead us.
displaced further at their toes as a result of the
excavation, but these computations suggest that,
down to a calculated factor of 1.2, there is little CONCLUSION
influence on the movement of the wall within the Understanding of the behaviour of soils and
depth that would be visible or which could affect our ability to model it numerically have devel-
other structures. oped considerably in the past 15 years. This has
For a constant length of 19 m, however, Fig. been possible because of the extensive pro-
44(b) shows that halving the wall stiffness causes grammes of field measurements which have been
movements to increase rather more. This change undertaken, combined with a return to the labor-
of stiffness could represent the effect of cracking atory to study the fundamentals of soil behaviour.
in a concrete section for example. To limit dis- In this Paper, a new constitutive model has been
placement it is more important to provide a stiff described which has gained from the work of
strong section than to add extra length. many researchers.
The bending moments computed in these The initial purpose of the BRICK model was to
BRICK runs are compared with results taken from represent small strain effects in stiff clay, but it
the early part of the Paper in Fig. 45; they are seems to reproduce a much wider range of fea-
comparable with the results of Potts & Fourie tures of the known behaviour of soils. The
(1986). Shortening the wall reduces the bending response to abrupt changes in stress path follows
moment without adding appreciably to move- naturally from the analogue and it required fairly
ment, and allowing for cracking brings the minor additions, using well established theories,
bending moment back towards the values derived to make a more complete model. Failure at con-
from the more pessimistic of the equilibrium cal- stant 4’ and the value of K, for normal consoli-
culations. These bending moments are not calcu- dation were not explicitly included in the model
lated for a failure state and it is necessary to but were predicted by it. The same model appears
decide whether they should be treated as ultimate to be applicable to both stiff and soft clays, and
or serviceability limit state values for design of the Author suspects that the concept could be
the concrete section. This subject is under dis- extended to granular materials as well.
cussion between representatives of the structural Because the basic process of the model is to
and geotechnical Eurocodes. derive stresses from strains, it is easy to use in a
C SUBROUTINE BRICK
C _________.
C
C The heart of the BRICK model
C Derives stress increment from strain increment
C
C INPUT
C DSN(NCD) increments of SN
C ZERO(2) (1) initial SN(l)
C
C WORKING SPACE
C
C SNT(NCD) = SN + DSN
C PSRED(NCD) additional elastic strain ( = “plastic strain
C
C OUTPUT
C
C DSS(NCD) stress increments
C DSNP(NCD) plastic strain increments
C DSNB(NCD,NB) strain increment for each brick
C
SUBROUTINE BRICK (IE,IG,JMAT,IWL.
FGK,RLAM,RKAP,RIOT,BETA,EXPO,NC,NCD,SS,SN,DSN
ZERO,TOLBR,NB,SL,GGMAX,SNB,VOLP,SNT,PSRED,SSM,
DSS,DSNP,DSNB)
C
DIMENSION SS(*),SN(*),SL(*),SNB(NCD,*),DSNP(*),SNBP(20),
DSN(*),DSS(*),PSRED(*),DSNB(NCD,*),SNT(*),SSM(*),
VOLP(*),ZERO(*),GGMAX(*)
C
C Initialise
C
RIKAP = RIOT/(RKAP - RIOT)
RILAM = RIOT/(RLAM - RIOT)
572 SIMPSON
TNB = ALOG(SL(NB))
DIFF=ALOG(SL(l))-TNB
ITERBR =0
DOl00JC=1,NC
100 SSM(JC) = SS(JC)
C
C Calc proportion of material represented by each brick
C
DO 105 J = NB.2, - 1
105 SNBP(J) = GGMAX(J - 1) - GGMAX(J)
SNBP(l) =I.-GGMAX(1)
C
C Apply strain inc
C
DOllOJ=l,NC
DSS(J) = 0.
PSRED(J) = 0.
110 SNT(J) = SN(J) + DSN(J)
C
C Iterate to find plastic strain and hence stress inc
C The first iteration ends at derivation of PSRED -
C stresses are not computed (label 170)
C
115 ITERBR = ITERBR + 1
IFAILB = 0
C
C Modify RIOT for BETA effect
C
T = (SS(1) + 0.5*DSS(l ))/ZER0(2)
TT= (SN(1) +0,5*DSN(l) -ZERO(l) - RLAM*ALOG(T))
BETMOD = 1. + BETA*TT
RIOTBB = RlOT/BETMOD
DO118JC=l,NC
118 DSNP(JC) = 0.
C
C Calc brick movements and plastic strains
C
DO150JB=l,NB
T = (SS(1) + 0.5*DSS(l))/ZER0(2)
IF(T.LE.1.E - 15) THEN
WRITE(IWL,l19)IE,IG,JMAT,ITERBR,SS(l),DSS(l),ZER0(2).EXPO.
* RIOT,SSM(l),(DSN(J),J =1.3)
STOP ‘NEGATIVE MEAN STRESS’
ENDIF
SLJB =SL(JB)
T = 0.
DOl20JC=l,NC
DSNB(JC,JB) = 0.
Tl = SN(JC) + DSN(JC) - SNB(JC,JB) - PSRED(JC)
RETAINING STRUCTURES: DISPLACEMENT AND DESIGN 513
120 T = T + Tl *Tl
T = SORT(T)
C T = distance of brick from new strain point ( or ) string length
IF(T.LE.SLJB) GO TO 135
C Brick ) string length from new strain point
C Move brick by DSNB, giving plastic strain DSNP
T=(T-SLJB)/T
DO130JC=l,NC
DSNB(JC,JB) = (SN(JC) + DSN(JC) - SNB(JC,JB) - PSRED(JC))*T
DSNP(JC) = DSNP(JC) + DSNB(JC,JB)*SNBP(JB)
130 CONTINUE
C Include PSRED in brick movement
135 DO140JC=l,NC
140 DSNB(JC,JB) = DSNB(JC,JB) + PSRED(JC)
150 CONTINUE
C
C Compute PSRED(1) from volumetric strain
C
T2 = VOLP(1) + DSNP(l) - VOLP(2)
IF(TZ.LT.0.) T2 = 0.
Tl = DSNP(l) -T2
PSRED(l) =Tl*RIKAP+T2*RILAM
TDSS = DSS(l)
IF(ABS(EXP0 -l.).LT.l.E-5) THEN
DSS(l) = (EXP((DSN(l) - DSNP(l))/RIOTBB) - l.)*SS(l)
ELSE
DSS(1) = (DSN(l) - DSNP(l))*SSM(l)**EXPO/RlOTBB
ENDIF
SSM(1) =SS(l) +0.5*DSS(l)
T=ABS(DSS(l))
IF(SSM(l).GT.T) T=SSM(l)
TOLSS = T*TOLBR
IF(ABS(DSS(1) -TDSS).GT.TOLSS) IFAILB = IFAILB + 1
C
C Compute PSRED( > 1) from DSS(l)
C
DO 170 JC=2,NC
170 PSRED(JC) =SSM(JC)*DSS(l)*RIOTBB/(FGK*SSM(l)*SSM(l)**EXPO)
lF(ITERBR.EQ.l) GOT0 115
C
C Find shear stresses DSS( > 1) and check tolerance
C
DO 180 JC = 2,NC
T = DSS(JC)
DSS(JC) = (DSN(JC) - DSNP(JC))*SSM(l)**EXPO*FGK/RIOTBB
574 SIMPSON
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Part I. short term behaviour. Ground Enana 23. No.
Y” I
cvclic loading. GCotechnique 31, No. 4, 45 l-469.
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(1985). Field and laboratory measurement of soil stress history on the deformation of overconsolidated
stiffness. Proc. 11th Int. Conf Soil Mech. Fndn soils. PhD thesis, City University, London.
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Krebs Ovesen, N. (1984). The geotechnical design in st@“clay. PhD thesis, University of Cambridge.
process-a comparison of practice among the Nordic Stroud, M. A. (1971). The behaviour of sand at low stress
countries (in Danish). Vag- och Vattenbygaren, Nos. levels in the simple shear apparatus. PhD thesis, Uni-
7-8. versity of Cambridge.
Loudon, P. A. (1967). Some deformation characteristics Symons, 1. F. & Carder, D. R. (1989). Long term behav-
ofkaolin. PhD thesis, University of Cambridge. iour of embedded retaining walls in over-
Maine, P. W. & Kulhawy, F. -H. (1982). K,pOCR consolidated clay. Geotechnical instrumentation in
relationshins in clav. J. Am. Sot. Civ. Enars 108, No. practice, pp. 289-307. London: Thomas Telford.
GT6,851l870. _ Terzaghi, K: (1954). Anchored bulkheads. Trans. Am.
Meyerhof, G. G. (1976). Bearing capacity and settlement Sot. Ciu. Engrs 119, 124331281.
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576 SIMPSON
apparatus. Proc. workshop on experimental charac- something less demanding and less controversial.
terization and modelling of soils and soft rocks, Brian, you have not only had the courage to
Napoli, pp. 15-97. select and to stick to a subject which we all agree
Wallace, J. C., Long, M. M. & Ho, C. E. (1993). is a difficult one-you have also demonstrated
Retaining wall behaviour for a deep basement in
most eloquently that you have the faculties to
Singapore Marine Clay. In Retaining structures.
make a major contribution to our understanding
London: Thomas Telford. In press.
Ward, W. H. & Burland, J. B. (1973). The use of ground of some of the fundamental problems involved in
strain measurements in civil engineering. Phil. the design of retaining structures.
Trans. R. Sot., Series A, 21, No. 4,421-428. Brian Simpson has included such topics as
Wroth, C. P. (1971). Some aspects of the elastic behav- design and codes of practice in his Rankine
iour of overconsolidated clay. Proc. Roscoe Mem. Lecture and thereby he has certainly broken new
Symp., Foulis, pp. 347-36 1. grounds.
Firstly, he discussed the basis of design of
retaining walls and the use of factors of safety,
VOTE OF THANKS particularly in relation to the development of
codes of practice. He underlined the importance
PROFESSOR NIELS KREBS OVESEN
of considering not only stresses but displacements
Having had the privilege and stimulation of as well in the design of retaining structures. He
working closely with Dr Brian Simpson on Euro- argued that factors of safety are not introduced
code 7 for the past seven years, it gives me great only to prevent collapse, but-perhaps more
pleasure to propose a vote of thanks to him for importantly-to avoid the wall moving unaccept-
having delivered a superb 32nd Rankine Lecture. ably. Furthermore, he stressed the importance of
It was indeed an outstanding and most memora- taking past experience with existing structures
ble lecture displaying the combination of skills of into account when writing codes of practice.
a uniquely practical engineer and gifted Secondly, Brian Simpson drew from his practi-
researcher. cal experience with the deep excavation for the
The first time the international geotechnical new British Library. Combining field observa-
community realized that a new star had been tions, laboratory test results and finite element
born on the British geotechnical sky was on the analyses he has made a major contribution to our
occasion of the European conference in Brighton understanding of the stiffness of soils at small
in 1979. Dr Simpson’s General report on the strains.
design parameters for stiff clays was indeed one of In the third and last part of his lecture Brian
the highlights of that conference. Simpson challenged our curiosity with his state-
It was therefore no surprise when representa- ment ‘soil behaves like bricks on strings’. He took
tives from the then nine European Community us together with his little man on a walk in strain
countries met in 1981 for the first Eurocode 7 space, and he reminded us again that stress is a
meeting to find that Dr Simpson had been selec- philosophical concept--deformation is a physical
ted for the task of representing the views of his reality. Without doubt his observation that soil
British colleagues--not necessarily an easy task behaves like bricks on strings will have signiticant
for an engineer of little more than 30 years of age theoretical and practical impact in the years to
at that time, or of any age for that matter. come.
Since then the committee has met for 40 In the first Rankine Lecture some 31 years ago
two-day meetings. Whether our meetings have Professor Casagrande stated that he would ‘make
been successful in producing a European geotech- use of theory to supplement empirical knowledge
nical code remains to be seen. They have, and to enhance sound judgment’. This is exactly
however, provided us, Brian Simpson’s continen- what we have heard and seen Dr Simpson doing
tal colleagues, with an exciting opportunity to today. I feel sure that those present will agree
benefit from his vast geotechnical experience and with me that Dr Simpson’s 32nd Rankine Lecture
theoretical insight. has been stimulating, thought-provoking and of
At the beginning of his lecture today Brian extreme value. It is with the greatest pleasure that
Simpson said that after having submitted the title, I propose a hearty vote of thanks to Dr Brian
he began to wonder why he had not chosen Simpson.