Comparison of retaining walls for basement construction in stiff clays

Abstract

The selection of retaining walls supporting deep excavations for building basements on various factors such as soil types, permissible movements, construction methods, material and equipment availability etc. For excavations in soft soils, rigid walls such as diaphragm walls and contiguous bored pile walls are commonly used as they are more effective than the more flexible walls such as sheet pile walls, in limiting soil movements to an acceptable level. For excavations in stiff soils, the relative merits for the rigid and flexible walls become less clear. This paper compares the performance and cost-effectiveness of rigid and flexible walls. The relative merits between the rigid and flexible wall systems are discussed.