NUMERICAL PREDICTION OF p-y BEHAVIOUR FOR DIAPHRAGM WALL

Diaphragm walls are used extensively as retaining structures in the coastal environment. The flexible retaining structure shall be considered as a beam on inelastic or nonlinear foundation, without assuming either a particular pressure state for a retained soil mass or a set of deformation conditions for the structure to get realistic results. A numerical procedure to generate lateral load-lateral deflection (p-y) curves for a diaphragm wall has been developed. The advantage of the above procedure is that it can be used for layered soil also. The effect of stiffness of wall, angle of internal friction and Poisson's ratio on limiting deflections of diaphragm wall on active and passive sides is studied. A case study has been carried out to validate the program using the results of plane strain analysis. The results are found to be in good comparison with the results of plane strain analysis.

Keywords:

Diaphragm wall , load-deflection curve , angle of internal friction , Poisson's ratio , stiffness of wall