Simplified Model for Wall Deflection and Ground-Surface Settlement Caused by Braced Excavation in Clays

Accurate prediction of ground-surface settlement adjacent to an excavation is often difficult to achieve without using accurate representation of small-strain nonlinearity in a soil model within finite-element analyses. In this paper a simplified semiempirical model is proposed for predicting maximum wall deflection, maximum surface settlement, and surface-settlement profile due to excavations in soft to medium clays. A large number of artificial data are generated through finite-element analyses using a well-calibrated, small-strain soil model. These data, consisting of wall displacements and ground-surface settlements in simulated excavations in soft to medium clays, provide the basis for developing the proposed semiempirical model. The proposed model is verified using case histories not used in the development of the model. The study shows that the developed model can accurately predict maximum wall deflection and ground-surface settlement caused by braced excavations in soft to medium clays.