Construction procedure of basement walls using staged bermed excavation with connection joints. Study of the optimum excavated berm section in mixed soils

Abstract

The construction of basement walls using staged berm is a widely applied technique in many countries. However, there are neither regulation nor scientific studies to support its use. In order to increase productivity, the tendency in the execution of this type of constructions is to carry out the partial excavations with the maximum possible dimensions, which must include the necessary space to overlap the horizontal reinforcements. This paper presents a procedure for the execution of walls with connection joints, without overlapping horizontal reinforcements and is modeled by a finite element software in order to obtain the optimum excavation width for mixed soils. The results underline the improvement in the stability of this execution technique and reveal a linear relationship between cohesion and excavation width for a given friction angle.