Abstract:
The research aims to study the lateral movement behavior of cement column which is designed as the retaining structure for excavation work of reservation cistern for Wangnoi power plant. The reservior was divided into 2 parts as pump house area having dimension of 6.20 m. wide, 18.0 m. long and 7.0 m. depth, and reservior cistern having dimension of 46 m wide, 830 m long and 5.5 m depth. The retaining structure was constructed by means of cement column of about 8 m. long embeded into the stiff silty clay layer. The lateral movement behavior of cement column retaining structure during vertical excavation of 7 m. depth in pump house area showed the movement in the cantilever mode with large lateral strain in the order of 1.4%. After reaching large lateral strain level, the behavior of retaining structure was changed to be the overall slope failure of the whole retaining structure. In the part of reservior cistern area for excavation of 5.5 m. depth, the excavation pattern was changed from vertical excavation as same as pump house area to be the slope excavation below 3.5 m. depth. This slope excavat ion induced a lower lateral strain of cement column retaining structure in the oder of 0.21-0 .34% and did not cause any failure. The prediction of lateral movement of the cement column retaining structure was carried out by means of Finite Element Method (FEM) of analys is using Mohr-columb soil modeling . The prediction based on FEM analysis agrees with measured lateral movement of cement column retaining structure. The appropriate ratios of Young 's modulus and undrained shear strength of soil (Eu/Su) for prediction of retaining wall movement are in oder of (120-180), (600-700) , and (650-750) for soft clay, stiff silty clay and cement column , respectively.