Performance Evaluation of Anchored Diaphragm Walls under Service Loads

Nowadays, RC or Combined diaphragm walls are vastly used for deep excavation. This type of retaining structures consists of some piles, which are tied-back using the anchors and anchored from their toe to the ground. Concrete or wood plates were used between them. In order to evaluate the effects of some parameters on wall deflection and its internal forces, several models of combined diaphragm walls were selected and analyzed using FLAC software. Before developing the models, Lim and Braiud (1999) case study was modeled with FLAC2D and results were compared with the experimental results indicating acceptable accuracy of the modeling. The numerical model simulates the soldier piles with beam elements and the anchors with cable elements. The soil model used is a modified hyperbolic model with unloading hysteresis. The complete sequence of construction is simulated including the excavation and the placement and stressing of the anchors. The numerical model is calibrated against an instrumented case history. Then a parametric study is conducted. The parameters which is evaluated are: distance and stiffness variation, the bonded and un-bonded length of the anchors, the angle of the anchors and the first raw anchor location. By comparing the different parameters it was observed that the variation of the flexural stiffness of the soldier piles and variation of the bond length of the anchors contain the highest and lowest effect on the maximum horizontal displacement of the wall, respectively. Other analytical results consisting wall deflection vs. geometric characters of the wall are presented and discussed.