A displacement controlled method for evaluating ground settlement induced by excavation in clay

Excavation usually induces considerable ground settlement in soft ground, which may result in damage of adjacent buildings. Generally, the settlement is predicted through elastic-plastic finite element method and empirical method with defects. In this paper, an analytical solution for predicting ground settlement induced by excavation is developed based on the definition of three basic modes of wall displacement: T mode, R mode and P model. A separation variable method is employed to solve the problem based on elastic theory. The solution is validated by comparing the results from the analytical method with the results from finite element method(FEM) and existing measured data. Good agreement is obtained. The results show that T mode and R mode will result in a downward-sloping ground settlement profile. The P mode will result in a concave-type ground settlement profile.