Melbourne's Southbank Interchange: a permanent excavation in compressible clay

2004 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 861-876 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwell C Ervin ◽  
Neil D Benson ◽  
Jack R Morgan ◽  
Nick Pavlovic

The Southbank Interchange of the Melbourne City Link Project links major freeways and access roads. The permanent excavation covers an area of 3 ha and extends to a maximum depth of 9 m, which is 6 m below the ground water table. Design and construction approaches were developed to (i) control seepage into the excavation to limit groundwater lowering beyond the site, and (ii) limit the effects of potentially damaging base heave during construction. Lateral flow of groundwater into the excavation was controlled by a cut-off wall extending through the compressible clay with a surrounding line of closely spaced recharge wells. Analyses showed the recharge wells in combination with the wall would be effective in limiting drawdown outside the site. Monitoring showed that pore water pressures were maintained within the design criteria, with the assistance of deep recharge of an underlying aquifer to control vertical seepage. Survey showed settlements outside the site were minimal. Shallow pressure relief drains were installed to limit uplift pressures and control base instability in the deepest parts of the excavation. Monitoring of the groundwater levels in the underlying aquifer and comparisons with results from flow models were used to successfully control uplift pressures during construction.Key words: clay, settlement, groundwater, excavation, recharge, construction.

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 326-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. D. Eigenbrod ◽  
J. Graham ◽  
J.-P. Burak

Seasonal changes in groundwater levels affect the rate of downhill creep movements in slopes. This process has been studied in triaxial tests on undisturbed specimens of a natural clay from Bluefish Lake, 50 km north of Yellowknife, N.W.T. Specimens were first anisotropically consolidated to low stresses that correspond to conditions at shallow depths in creeping slopes. Pore-water pressures (back pressures) in the specimens were then cycled systematically (over periods lasting 4–48 h) with the drainage leads open. Resulting axial and volumetric strains were measured, and shear and lateral strains deduced from them. Strain rates decreased with increasing total times of testing. They increased with increasing values of the ratio Δu/Δuf, with increasing values of deviator stress q, and with decreasing values of [Formula: see text]. Systematically increasing the pore-water pressures in the specimens produced clear estimates of failure at low stresses. Key words : slope, clay, creep, cyclic loading, ground water, triaxial.


1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 607-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis E. Vallejo

A new approach to the stability analysis of thawing slopes at shallow depths, taking into consideration their structure (this being a mixture of hard crumbs of soil and a fluid matrix), is presented. The new approach explains shallow mass movements such as skin flows and tongues of bimodal flows, which usually take place on very low slope inclinations independently of excess pore water pressures or increased water content in the active layer, which are necessary conditions in the methods available to date to explain these movements.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4412
Author(s):  
Houqiang Yang ◽  
Nong Zhang ◽  
Changliang Han ◽  
Changlun Sun ◽  
Guanghui Song ◽  
...  

High-efficiency maintenance and control of the deep coal roadway surrounding rock stability is a reliable guarantee for sustainable development of a coal mine. However, it is difficult to control the stability of a roadway that locates near a roadway with large deformation. With return air roadway 21201 (RAR 21201) in Hulusu coal mine as the research background, in situ investigation, theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and engineering practice were carried out to study pressure relief effect on the surrounding rock after the severe deformation of the roadway. Besides, the feasibility of excavating a new roadway near this damaged one by means of pressure relief effect is also discussed. Results showed that after the strong mining roadway suffered huge loose deformation, the space inside shrank so violently that surrounding rock released high stress to a large extent, which formed certain pressure relief effect on the rock. Through excavating a new roadway near this deformed one, the new roadway could obtain a relative low stress environment with the help of the pressure relief effect, which is beneficial for maintenance and control of itself. Equal row spacing double-bearing ring support technology is proposed and carried out. Engineering practice indicates that the new excavated roadway escaped from possible separation fracture in the roof anchoring range, and the surrounding rock deformation of the new roadway is well controlled, which verifies the pressure relief effect mentioned. This paper provides a reference for scientific mining under the condition of deep buried and high stress mining in western China.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry Moiseevich Olenchikov

Abstract Recently, more and more reservoir flow models are being extended to integrated ones to consider the influence of the surface network on the field development. A serious numerical problem is the handling of constraints in the form of inequalities. It is especially difficult in combination with optimization and automatic control of well and surface equipment. Traditional numerical methods solve the problem iteratively, choosing the operation modes for network elements. Sometimes solution may violate constraints or not be an optimal. The paper proposes a new flexible and relatively efficient method that allows to reliably handle constraints. The idea is to work with entire set of all possible operation modes according to constraints and control capabilities. Let's call this set an operation modes domain (OMD). The problem is solved in two stages. On the first stage (direct course) the OMD are calculated for all network elements from wells to terminal. Constraints are handled by narrowing the OMD. On the second stage (backward course) the optimal solution is chosen from OMD.


2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 449-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Harris ◽  
Antoni G Lewkowicz

Active-layer detachment slides are locally common on Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, where permafrost is continuous, the active layer is 0.5-0.75 m thick, and summer temperatures are unusually high in comparison with much of the Canadian High Arctic. In this paper we report pore-water pressures at the base of the active layer, recorded in situ on two slopes in late July and early August 1995. These data form the basis for slope stability analyses based on effective stress conditions. During fieldwork, the factor of safety within an old detachment slide on a slope at Hot Weather Creek was slightly greater than unity. At "Big Slide Creek," on a slope showing no evidence of earlier detachment failures, the factor of safety was less than unity on a steep basal slope section but greater than unity elsewhere. In the upper slope, pore-water pressures were only just subcritical. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate that the stability of the shallow active layer is strongly influenced by changes in soil shear strength. Possible mechanisms for reduction in shear strength through time include weathering of soils and gradual increases in basal active layer ice content. However, we suggest here that soil shearing during annual gelifluction movements is most likely to progressively reduce shear strengths at the base of the active layer from peak values to close to residual, facilitating the triggering of active-layer detachment failures.Key words: detachment slides, Ellesmere Island, pore-water pressures, gelifluction.


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