INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR

SOIL MECHANICS AND

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

This paper was downloaded from the Online Library of

the International Society for Soil Mechanics and
Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). The library is
available here:

https://www.issmge.org/publications/online-library

This is an open-access database that archives thousands

of papers published under the Auspices of the ISSMGE and
maintained by the Innovation and Development
Committee of ISSMGE.
 Behaviour of aninstrumentedcircular diaphragmwall
Comportement d’unparois muléescirculaire instrumenté
C.AnagnoStopoulOS- Universityol Thessaloniki, Greece
K.GeorgiadiS— Imperial College, London, UK

ABSTRACT: A circular reinforced concrete diaphragm wall of 20.8m diameter and 0.6m wall thickness was constructed in order to
perform a 9.0m deep excavation in sandy soil with ground water table at -2.0m. The wall was instrumented with specially designed
strain gauges, which were welded on reinforcement bars and allowed measurement of the tangential compressive forces and the longi­
tudinal bending moments produced by the excavation. In addition the radial movement of the top of the wall was measured during the
excavation. Field measurements compare well to the results of a finite element analysis performed using axisymmetry and a soil hard­
ening plasticity model. In addition, a simple hollow cylinder analysis, in which different at-rest earth pressures and pore-water pres­
sures were applied on each side of the circular diaphragm wall, provided very satisfactory predictions o f the variation of the compres­
sive forces with depth. Both measured and predicted bending moments and radial movements proved to be very small.

RÉSUMÉ: Affin de réaliser une excavation de profondeur de 9.0 m au sol sablais, la nappe phréatique étant au niveau de -2 .0 m, il a
était construit un parois mulées circulaire de diamètre de 20.8 m. Le parois a été instrumenté par ’strain gauges’ qui ont été adhérés
sur les armatures donnant la possibilité de mesurer les forces compressives tangentielles aussi bien que les moments fléchissants
provoques par l’excavation. Une analyse numérique par la méthode des éléments finis a été réalisée, en considérant une lois
élastoplastique avec écrouissage dont les résultats obtenus se trouvent en correspondance avec ceux mesures en place. En plus, une
analyse simplificatrice pour simuler le problème par un cylindre creux auquel s’exercent de pression des terres au repos aussi bien que
de pression interstitielles a chaque coté du parois a été effectuée, donnant une prédiction satisfaisante de variation de forces
compressives avec la profondeur. Les moments fléchissants aussi bien que les déplacements radiaux ont été trouvés très petits.

1 INTRODUCTION

Circular diaphragm walls are often constructed to accommodate

underground parking areas, storage tanks, pumping stations and
power installations. Their main advantages, compared to ordi­
nary rectangular diaphragm walls, are that they do not usually
need lateral bracings, their inward movements are negligible,
their watertightness is significantly increased and their wall em­
bedment below excavation level can be drastically reduced, pro­
vided that there are no piping problems.
The diaphragm wall examined in this paper was used for an
excavation related to the construction of a pumping station along
a waste pipeline in Greece. Its outside diameter and wall thick­
ness are 20.8m and 0.6m respectively, and is composed of 26 re­
inforced concrete panels 2.6m wide by 16.0m long, as shown in
Figure 1. The excavation was performed in two stages, an initial
to a depth of 6.0m below ground surface and the final to the
maximum excavation depth of 9.0m. The ground water table in­
side the diaphragm wall was lowered, by pumping, to the exca­
vation level.
Compressive tangential stresses, bending moments and radial
movements of the concrete wall were measured and compared to
numerical and simple K^-analysis predictions.

2 INSTRUMENTATION

The diaphragm wall behaviour was monitored using two sets of

specially designed strain gauges which were welded on the rein­
forcement bars of one of the 26 concrete panels at depths of 3.5,
5.5, 7.5, 9.5, 11.5 and 13.5m, as shown in Figure 1. One set of
strain gauges was used to measure the compressive tangential
stresses developed in the circular diaphragm due to excavation.
The other set consisted of six (6) pairs of strain gauges, which
were installed on the axial reinforcement of the two sides of the Figure 1. General plan o f the diaphragm wall

1061
Figure 2. Diaphragm wall and monitoring equipment

concrete panel and were used to determine the variation of bend­

0. 0 --------
ing moment along the panel length. Strain changes were re­
corded through a multi-channel KYOWA strain-meter (Fig. 2).
The inward radial movements of the top o f four panels were ob­ -2.0m 'W GWT
tained by survey measurements taken before and after each ex­
cavation stage. Loose silty SAND
N sn-=6, 9= 31°, ySAT=18.5kN/m3
G =2M Pa, v =0.30
3 SOIL CONDITIONS

The design soil profile shown in Figure 3 was determined using

the results of a geotechnical investigation, which comprised a
20m deep boring and standard penetration and laboratory tests. -8.0m
Loose sandy SILT
A loose silty sand layer is present from ground surface to a depth N Sn= 4, 9= 2 9 °, ySAT=17.0kN/m3
of 8.0m. Below this layer exists a 6.0m thick layer of loose G = 1 .5 M P a, v=0.30
sandy silt which overlays a layer of medium dense silty sand. -10.5m -------------------------------------------------------------
The ground water level was found at -2.0m.
The angle of internal friction of each of the three layers was
determined from the SPT results using Equation 1, which has
been proposed by Hatanaka and Uchida (1996) for sandy soils
with values of N, (Equation 2) between 3 and 30.
Medium dense silty SAND
N SFr=20, 9= 39°, ySAT=21.0kN/m3
<P= V2 0 N 1 (!) G .=6M Pa, v.=0.30

N , = N / >/(a'v /98) (2)

where N is the measured number of SPT blowcounts, and ct ' v

is the vertical effective stress in kPa.
The shear modulus G, of the sandy layers was also deter­ -20.0m ■
mined from the SPT results using correlations appropriate for
silty sand. It is noted however that the results of the numerical
analyses proved to be insensitive to the values o f G, used. Figure 3. Design soil profile

1062
4 MEASURED DIAPHRAGM WALL BEHAVIOUR Compressiveforce (kN)
Monitored tangential strains at different depths were multiplied 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
by the elastic modulus of the reinforced concrete and the thick­
ness of the panels (t = 0.6m) to determine the compressive forces
(per unit depth) that developed in the diaphragm wall. Compres­
sive forces corresponding to the six depths where strain gauges
were installed, are presented in Figures 4 and 5 for excavation
depths of 6m and 9m, respectively. In both cases the maximum
compressive force developed close to excavation level. For the
final 9m deep excavation the measured maximum compressive
hoop force was on the order of 1000 kN per meter length, corre­
sponding to stresses which can be easily accommodated by the
0.6m thick concrete panel.
Measured axial strains at the six depths were used to deter­
mine the bending moments developed along the panel lengths for
both 6m and 9m excavations. The maximum bending moment
determined for the final 9m deep excavation proved to be very
small, on the order of 70 kN-m per meter of panel width. This
value is very small compared to the capacity of the wall and
demonstrates that, in contrast to plane rectangular diaphragm
walls, bending moments are not essential in the design of circu­
lar diaphragm walls.
The radial movement of the diaphragm wall was measured at
the top of two pairs of opposite to each other concrete panels.
Measurements showed that even for the final 9m deep excava­
tion, the movements of the four wall panels were very small, on
the order o f ±lm m and within the measurement accuracy limits.

5 NUMERICAL PREDICTIONS

The behaviour of the circular diaphragm wall was analysed nu­ Figure 4. Compressive hoop forces for 6m deep excavation
merically using the finite element code PLAXIS (Vermeer,
1996).
The soil was modelled with an axisymmetric mesh consisted
of 15-noded triangular elements. Special beam elements were Compressiveforce (kN)
used to model the sheet pile wall. A hardening plasticity soil
model was employed, described by the angle of internal friction, 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
the angle of dilatancy and the stress depended loading and
unloading stiffnesses. Interface elements were placed between
the soil elements and the wall, simulating a thin zone of reduced
shearing strength.
The flow net caused by the pumping inside the diaphragm
wall was calculated and the pore water pressures were taken into
account in the analysis.
Results o f the numerical analysis are presented in Figures 4
and 5, together with the measured compressive hoop forces, for
6m and 9m deep excavations, respectively. It is noted that varia­
tions within reasonable limits of the friction angle of the sandy
layers had only minor effect on the computed compressive forces
versus depth relationships. Results of the numerical analysis are
presented in Figures 4 and 5, together with the measured com­
pressive hoop forces, for 6m and 9m deep excavations, respec­
tively. It is noted that variations within reasonable limits of the
friction angle of the sandy layers had only minor effect on the
computed compressive forces versus depth relationships. Fur­
thermore, change of the value of the shear modulus of the soil
layers had no effect on the computed diaphragm wall behaviour.
The predicted radial inward movements of the circular dia­
phragm wall are presented in Figure 6 for the 9m meter deep ex­
cavation. The maximum computed movement is on the order of
0.6mm and occurs at the final excavation level where the tangen­
tial compressive force is also maximum.
The predicted radial inward movements of the circular dia­
phragm wall are presented in Figure 6 for the 9m meter deep ex­
cavation. The maximum computed movement is on the order of
0.6mm and occurs at approximately -9.0m where the tangential Figure 5. Compressive hoop forces for 9m deep excavation
compressive force is also maximum.

1063
 6 Ko-ANALYSIS where ct 'v0 and a'*, are the effective vertical stresses outside and
inside the wall, u0 and U| are the pore-water pressures, K<,n is the
In addition to the axisymmetric finite element analysis of the cir­ at-rest earth pressure coefficient of the normally consolidated
cular diaphragm wall, a simple hand calculation was performed sand ( K,,,, = 1 - sin<|> ) and K*, is the at-rest earth pressure coeffi­
using Ko earth pressures, to determine the variation of the tan­ cient of the overconsolidated, due to the excavation, soil inside
gential compressive forces and radial wall movements with the diaphragm wall. According to Schmidt (1966) and Mayne
depth. and Kulhawy (1982):
The tangential stress as and the radial movement pr o f a point
i within the mass of a hollow cylinder which is subjected to ex­ K 0 = K 0 n ( 0 C R ) sin<P (8)
ternal and internal pressures p0 and p^ respectively, is (Poulos
and Davis, 1974): where OCR is the overconsolidation ratio.
The variation of the pore-water pressure with depth inside
and outside the diaphragm wall was calculated using the simple
,2 b 2(p0 - P i ) P ia 2 - p 0b 2
O0 (3) procedure described by Padfield and Mair (1984), which as­
(b 2 - a 2 ) r 2 sumes that the head difference is dissipated uniformly along the
flow path.
The compressive hoop forces computed using the above
analysis and Equation 5 are plotted in Figures 4 and 5, together
P r, i ± y 2b> ° : P i> _ m ì z m ì . „ _ 2v)r] with the field measurements and the numerical predictions. Both
( b 2 - a 2 )r b2 - a 2
(4) figures demonstrate that the simple K0-analysis provides very
satisfactory predictions. This K^, behaviour of the circular dia­
+ v _ r [p2 + 2v(pia 2 - p b 2)
phragm is justified by the fact that the radial wall movements
E b - a are extremely small. The variation of the radial wall movement
with depth, computed using Equation 4 is presented in Figure 6
where a and b are the internal and external radii, respectively, r
together with the results of the numerical analysis. The maxi­
is the radius at point i and E, v, are the elastic modulus and Pois-
mum inward movement occurs at a depth of 8.5m and is equal to
son’s ratio of the cylinder.
0.55mm, very close to the numerical prediction.
For r = (a + b)/2, Equation 5 gives the compressive hoop
force Pc per unit length.

:p 0 b - p j a (5) 7 CONCLUSIONS

The external and internal pressures p0 and pj on the dia­ The behaviour of a circular diaphragm wall which was con­
phragm wall are considered equal to the sum of the at-rest earth structed for the purpose of a 9.0m deep excavation, was moni­
pressure and the pore-water pressure: tored using strain gauge and surveying measuring techniques.
The excavation was conducted in two stages and measurements
Po = K C + u. (6 ) of the compressive hoop forces and bending moments were
taken at six elevations at the end o f each stage. In addition, the
Pi = K n + Uj (7) radial movement of the top of the diaphragm wall was measured
at four symmetrical points. Bending moments and wall move­
ments were very small, while the compressive forces were sig­
Radial displacement p(mm) nificant and characterised the circular diaphragm wall behaviour.
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
The field measurements compared very well to predictions
made through both a finite element analysis and a simple hand
calculation, in which the circular diaphragm was considered as a
hollow cylinder loaded with different at-rest earth pressures and
pore-water pressures inside and outside. It is concluded that due
to the very small radial movements of the circular diaphragm
wall, the simple K„ - analysis provides very satisfactory predic­
tions of the compressive hoop forces, which in the circular dia­
phragm wall design are predominant.

REFERENCES

Hatanaka, M. & Uchida, A. 1996. Empirical correlation between

a penetration resistance and internal friction angle o f sandy soils.
9 Soils a n d F oundations, 36 (4) : 1-9.
D
Mayne, P. W. Sl Kulhawy, F.H. 1982. Ko-OCR relationships in soil.
Journal o f the G eotechnical E ngineering Division, ASC E, 108 ( 6 ):
851-872.
Padfield, C. J. & Mair, R.J. 1984. D esign o f retaining w alls em bedded in
s t i f f c l a y : R eport 104. London : CIR1A.
Poulos, H.G. & Davis, E.H. 1974. E lastic solutions f o r so il a n d rock m e­
chanics. New York : Jhn Wiley and Sons.
Schmidt, B. 1966. Earth pressures at-rest related to stress history. Cana­
dian G eotechnical Journal, 3 (4): 239-242.
Vermeer, P. A. 1996. PLAX1S -fin ite elem ent code f o r so il a n d rock p la s­
ticity. Rotterdam : Balkema.

1064