Study on early warning of rapid sinking of large land caisson in silt layer

¹ CCCC Second Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd, Wuhan
² Key Laboratory of Transportation Industry for Construction Technology of Long Bridge, Wuhan
³ Intelligent Construction Technology Centre for Transportation Infrastructure, Wuhan

^* Corresponding author: Shi Zhangru@2205499704@qq.com

Abstract

Large caisson constructed in the soft soil layer is prone to rapid sinking during the sinking process. Rapid sinking is often accompanied by partial sinking, which affects construction safety and subsequent construction. There is no relevant early warning mechanism for early warning of rapid sinking. This paper takes the sinking construction of a large land caisson in a deep silt layer as an example, analysis the rapid sinking mechanism through the earth pressure and settlement rate of the sinking process, and proposes a rapid sinking early warning mechanism. Before the rapid sinking, the soil at the edge of the blade feet is partially plastic damaged, and the earth pressure decreases continuously after reaching its limit value; The strain softening of the overlying soft soil layer, the rapid reduction of side friction and the instability of open caisson caused by soil gushing after the plastic zone connecting are the important reasons for the rapid sinking. The rapid sinking process is divided into “sagging section, starting section, instability section and stable section”. The earth pressure early warning mechanism is the continuous decrease of the earth pressure at the blade feet. When the sinking rate exceeds the threshold value for two hours, it is regarded as the early warning mechanism of sinking rate. Using this dual control mechanism of end earth pressure and sinking rate can effectively warn the rapid sinking of the caisson.