1.

Problématique

Soil needs confinement for its stability. When an excavation is necessary, it will affect this
confinement. This excavation will result in deformation on the adjacent ground in addition to
the deformation caused by the weight of the structure above it. These additional deformations
must be determined. Addis Ababa is a fast growing city in terms of the number and type of
construction activities that are aimed at providing accessible roads, transportation and suitable
buildings for residence and business purposes. One or two or all of the above mentioned
processes could act at the same time and these results in deep excavations near already
constructed structures or currently under construction structures making the study of these
displacements vital. The environmental impact is usually related to displacements caused by
deep excavations and also additional stresses incurred. The most common are displacements of
retaining structures and settlements of the adjacent buildings.

2. Methodology

First, the effect of excavations with adjacent foundation loads is studied. The parameters for
red Clay soil are obtained from previously done theses on red clay. Then, representative
properties for red clay soil are taken and used as input in modelling the excavation and loading
scenarios. Secant pile wall is used for the retaining of the excavation. The foundation levels and
the distance from the edge of the excavation are varied. Then green field effects of excavations
are studied based on a case study of excavation supported on secant pile. In this part, the
stiffness and the pile thickness have been varied along with varying the depth of excavation for
all cases. Out puts of displacement in the soil, in the secant pile wall and moments in the secant
pile wall are presented and discussed.

After modeling and analyzing of the different combinations, out puts of vertical and horizontal
displacements are presented and discussed. Conclusions are finally presented.

3. Review of littérature

There are three main factors that influence movements of retaining structures and thus the
behavior of the adjacent structures or utilities. The first factor is the support system. The support
system consists of the earth support conditions, the type of the wall, the flexural stiffness of the
wall, the prestress and stiffness of support system and the vertical restraint of the wall. The
second factor is ground property. The shear strength and stiffness of the ground behind the wall
and at the passive side affect the performance of the retaining walls and the ground. Soil’s
current behavior is also influenced by in-situ stress conditions and also by the OCR (over
consolidation ratio). Heterogeneous soil mass also plays a role in the performance of the overall
system. The third factor is construction method. The wall installation might involve driving,
vibration, ground removal. Dewatering and excavation techniques can also affect the
excavation [6]. In this chapter, introduction on retaining structures are discussed first followed
by deformation profiles near excavations and finally case studies done by different scholars are
summarized.

4. Factors that affect the performance of excavations

Soil properties and wall stiffness affect the performance of excavations. The overall stiffness
of the support system is calculated in terms of an effective stiffness of the system. Walls that
are considered stiff on the basis of the rigidity of the wall element include secant, tangent pile
walls and structural slurry walls. Walls that are considered flexible on the basis of the rigidity
of the wall element include steel sheet pile walls, soldier piles and lagging walls [13].

The following figure shows one of the earliest ground movement’s profiles, not considering the
effects of wall installation as observed for a typical excavation which was obtained by Clough
and O’Rourke.

Figure 2.5 shows that during the initial excavation before the installation of the first level of
lateral support, the wall deforms as a cantilever. Settlement of the adjacent soil tends to decrease
with distance from the edge of the excavation. Settlements during this stage were represented
by a triangular distribution of displacements. When the excavation advances to deeper
elevations, upper wall movements are restrained by the installation of new supports. Deep
inward movements of the wall occur. The deflected shape of the wall shows a bulge in the
deeper portion of the excavation. If deep inward movements are the predominant form of wall
deformation, as in the case with deep excavations in soft to medium clay, then the settlements
tend to be bounded by a trapezoidal displacement profile. If cantilever movements predominate,
as can occur for excavations in sands and stiff to very hard clay, then settlements tend to follow
a triangular pattern. Further inward bulging of the wall occur as the bottom supports are
removed. Additional cantilever-type deformation at the top of the wall results when the upper
supports are removed. In soft to medium clays, small amounts of deformation may be observed
until backfill is complete. There are typically no additional movements in stiff clays during the
backfill operations [13]. Figure 2.5 only describes the general deflection behavior of the wall
in response to then excavation. The soil conditions, wall installation methods, and the effective
stiffness of the excavation support system are specific factors that influence the magnitude of
movements of the support system [13].