Comportement long terme des ancrages prcontraints La station souterraine de parking Keramikos

E. Zampiras1 Attiko Metro SA, Civil Engineer - Geotechnical, MSc N. Boussoulas Attiko Metro SA, Civil Engineer - Geotechnical, MSc
ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the long term behavior of temporary prestressed anchors of an existing temporary retaining structure. The scope of the initial project in 1995 was to construct Keramikos underground station of Line 3 Athens Metro. In 2007 ATTIKO METRO S.A. had the responsibility to construct within the existing excavation, a new five storey underground car park. The main distinctiveness of the particular project was that for the first time in Greece a temporary retaining structure of a deep excavation active for almost 13 years, being subjected to different loading conditions, had to be used again under submerged conditions. The recorded actual behavior of the retaining structure showed that the global remaining temporary anchor strength was quite significant. RSUM Ce document sattarde sur le comportement long terme des ancrages prcontraints dune structure de soutnement temporaire. Le but du projet initial de 1995 tait de construire la station souterraine Keramikos sur la ligne 3 du mtro dAthnes. En 2007, Attiko Metro S.A. eut la responsabilit de construire un nouveau parking souterrain de 5 tages en utilisant les excavations existantes. La singularit de ce projet particulier fut que pour la premire fois en Grce, les soutnements provisoires dune structure profonde, en place depuis 13 ans, allaient tre sujet des conditions de charge diffrentes cette singularit allait tre rencontre de nouveau dans des conditions immerges. Les mesures faites sur le comportement des structures de soutnement montrent que les efforts globaux sur les ancrages temporaires taient relativement importants. Keywords: Temporary prestressed anchors, back analysis, retaining structure, submerged, axial force, long term behaviour

INTRODUCTION

Within the scope of the initial Athens Metro project, Keramikos underground station started to be constructed in 1995, as an end station of Line 3. In 1997 it was decided to alter the alignment and abandon the station and so the construction works stopped. By that time, the temporary retaining structure of the excavation had been completed, whereas part of the bottom slab of the station, along with a small part of the side walls,
1

had been concreted. Until 2006, a permanent pumping system was in operation, under the responsibility of Athens Municipality as owner. In 2006 the pumping operations were stopped, as the construction site was delivered to ATTIKO METRO S.A., with the responsibility to construct within the existing excavation, a new five storey underground car park. Within two years, the water table raised and stabilized at its initial level (~6 - 7m below ground surface) so that the excavated station box was submerged into 16m

Corresponding Author.

of water. By the time the new contract was awarded (2007), the temporary retaining structure was already active for almost 13 years. The state of the retaining structure and excavation is shown in Fig. 1.

2.1

Ground water level

GEOLOGICAL GEOTECHNICAL CONDITIONS

The stringent area of the station consists mainly of the Upper and Lower Units of the Athens Schist formation. The Upper Unit consists mainly of highly sheared schist into lean clay and sandy clay, of marly limestone and alternations of meta-sandstone and meta-siltstone. The Lower Unit formations consist of highly sheared and soil like gray-black clayey schists and weathered meta-siltstones with intercalations of metasandstones. The contact between the Upper and Lower Unit appears roughly at a depth of 25m from ground surface. Quaternary formations are deposited on top of the Athens Schist bedrock, consisting of alluvial deposits characterized as stiff to very stiff sandy clay, silty/clayey sand and browngreen marl. These alluvial deposits reach a thickness of 9m in the west part of the station box. Man made deposits in the area reach a maximum thickness of 6m. Generally, the bedrock formations have a mechanical behavior of stiff to hard soil and soft rock.

Before the start of excavation works in 1995, the water table level was fluctuating between depths of 5 to 7m from ground surface. During construction period (19951997), a maximum water table level drop of 12.5m was measured due to drainage. During the abandonment period (19972006), the water table level was kept at excavation level or just below it due to continuous pumping operations. After the pumping operations stoppage, accumulated standing water was visible at the bottom of the excavation, whereas just before the construction works commenced, the water table level in and out of the excavation box had recovered in the initial depths of 5 to 7m from ground surface.

TEMPORARY RETAINING STRUCTURE

3.1

Description of existent retaining structure

The initial temporary retaining structure comprised of reinforced concrete bored piles of 0.80m diameter generally at 1.8m centers connected with concrete pile cap at the top, with 5 to 6 rows (depending on excavation depth) of prestressed three to five strand anchors and shotcrete cover of 0.15m thickness reinforced with wired mesh. The shotcrete layer was covering the concrete piles and anchor heads, forming a uniform wall surface. At the east portal the underground part of the station had been constructed with conventional tunneling method under Piraeus Street, abandoned under temporary lining of shotcrete, soil nails and forepoling umbrellas. 3.2 Stress state and deformation history

Figure 1. General view (towards east) of Keramikos Station submerged retaining structure (2008).

During its life span from 1995, the retaining structure and the surrounding ground have been subjected to alternate loading conditions like undrained to drained, unloading, consolidation and horizontal inward movements, while the concrete piles had been subjected to deformation, bending, shear and the temporary anchors being further stressed. Until 2006, the ongoing pumping operations kept the excavation dry and part

of the surrounding ground under drained conditions. After posterior on site autopsies (Gazetas, 2001) and surveying checks (Tsimaras, 2004) that were carried out, it was found out that settlements and horizontal deformations were stabilized a short period after the temporary retaining structure construction completion and kept nearly constant until 2007, leading to a first conclusion that the prestressed anchors behaved well during that period. Of course creep effects and loss of prestress force could not be estimated, but the above investigations showed a global constant behaviour of the retaining structure. In 1999 the temporary retaining structure was subjected to seismic loading during the Athens 5.9 Richter earthquake, with a recorded acceleration of 0.50g, where it was concluded that it did not cause any additional considerable loading or damage on the retaining structure (Gazetas and Chronopoulos, 2001). After 2006 when pumping operations stopped, the ground water level was gradually recovered until 2008 where it reached the initial levels of 1995, reinstating saturated ground conditions and excavation submergence. The maximum recorded ground and retaining wall deformations, bending moments and anchor forces (estimated from back analyses from the design firm Geognosi SA in 2008[1]) that occurred during the period 1995-2007 are shown below and in Fig. 2.
Table 1. Maximum recorded ground and retaining structure deformations during 1995-2005 and estimated concrete pile bending moments and anchor forces. Bending moment, KNm/m 680 Axial force, KN Horizontal displacement (mm) 96 (3D target 15) 41(KE203) Settlement (mm)

tem, complete the remaining excavation in certain areas and demolish the existing final lining walls in order to construct the new final structure of the car park. All the above works should not cause deformations exceeding the maximum limits that were set by Attiko Metro SA, taking into account the past deformation history. 4.1 Design of strengthening retaining measures

The main issue in the design approach for the additional retaining measures was the existent condition and remaining strength of the temporary prestressed anchor tendons, being important elements for the retaining structure safety.

(a) Horizontal deformation vectors based on 3D targets.

Concrete piles Anchors Ground

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DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF TEMPORARY WORKS

(b) Horizontal deformation, cross-section B-B. Figure 2. Maximum horizontal deformations of retaining wall (3D targets) Time period 1995-2007.

The main scope of the project, regarding the temporary retaining works, was to pump out the water within the excavation box in a controlled manner, provide a strengthening retaining sys-

The estimation of a global remaining strength of the prestressed anchors could only be based

mainly on back analyses, parametric analyses, consideration of deformation evolution of the retaining structure throughout the time span of 13 years and local visual inspection of the anchor heads under the shotcrete cover. The design consisted mainly of two approaches: by performing back analyses via Finite Element (FE) software Plaxis v8 and final analyses using FE and structural modeling of the retaining structure[1]. In the structural analyses, a parametric study was carried out on the remaining prestressed anchor strength, adopting percentages of 0% (failed anchors), 50%, 75% and 100%, resulting in bending moments, shear forces and horizontal displacements for each case. 4.1.1 Back analysis Two characteristic sections B-B and C2-C2 were adopted for the FE back analyses, shown in Fig. 2. The back analyses used in determining the geotechnical parameters of the formations, following the initial construction stages of the station, estimate the induced axial forces on the prestressed anchors and bending moments on the piles. From the back analyses results it was concluded that the existing safety at the period before the new contract works commenced, was locally marginal. Typical results are shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Induced axial forces in prestressed anchors from back analysis. Section B-B. Row No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Axial force (KN) 600 518 546 869 935 656 Working load (KN) / No tendons 800 / 5 640 / 4 640 / 4 640 / 4 800 / 5 800 / 5 Yield / Ult. load (KN) - Steel 1670/1860MPa 1120 / 1260 896 / 1008 896 / 1008 896 / 1008 1120 / 1260 1120 / 1260

but were still below or close to the yield anchor loads. The internal FOS of the steel tendons was reduced from 1.57 into 1.16 and 1.35 for the 4th and 5th row, respectively. The ground/grout bond stress of the anchor fixed length was estimated from the as-built bond lengths (Fig. 3). The values were 200250KPa, which generally appears to be unaffected through the time. However, it seems that locally the initial adopted bond lengths might be inadequate due to excess axial anchor loads.

Figure 3. Cross section B-B. Total / Fixed anchor lengths. Geotechnical parameters

It can be seen from Table 2 that the 4th and 5th row of anchors were the most stressed, as increased bending had occurred at their part between the last row of anchors and the pile toe. The induced axial loads had exceeded the initial working loads (determined initially by a factor of safety FOS of 1.57 applied to the ultimate load),

4.1.2 Final design The concept of the final design was to provide a rigid additional retaining system while pumping the water out of the excavation box, in order to minimize additional deformations and excess loading on the existing retaining structure. The new retaining measures comprised of two rows of struts and lean concrete fill of 3.5m thickness at the bottom of the excavation in order to prop the sensitive lower part of the retaining structure due to excessive bending and deformation (Fig. 4). The proposed construction stages outlined as follows: Placement of 1st row of struts Under water concreting of bottom prop slab Gradual pumping of water in 1m intervals Placement of 2nd row of struts Completion of water pumping until the bottom of excavation.

The main issue in design was the unknown remaining strength of the temporary prestressed anchors due to lack of special corrosion protection measures. Therefore in the final FE analyses the anchor cross section was reduced, assuming conservatively a 40-50% remaining strength, thus resulting in a FOS of 1.05 1.1, i.e. marginal existing safety.

seen lean concrete prop, placed when the water level reached +29 (~5m above the bottom of the excavation), while the second row of struts were installed after the water level had reached the bottom of the excavation.

Figure 4. Proposed retaining measures.

The FE analysis did not take into account the lean concrete prop at the bottom of the excavation, as it was proposed at a later stage, during the final structural parametric analyses. The structural analyses of the retaining structure based on the concept of parametric studies by varying the remaining anchor strength, so that bending moments, shear forces and additional horizontal deformations would derived for 0%, 50%, 75%, 100% remaining strength. The resulted horizontal displacements from the FE and structural analyses are shown in Fig. 5. 4.2 valuation of temporary anchors behavior

(a)

The actual construction stages followed were different than that of the proposed final design. Due to a neighboring deep excavation that was in progress during the same period, pumping operations from that excavation caused the water level drop inside Keramikos excavation box. These uncontrolled pumping operations caused nearly rapid drawdown conditions within the excavation box. By that time only the first row of struts had been installed. Due to the rapid evolution of the construction works in the adjacent site, the initial foreseen construction stages in Keramikos box were forcedly altered. Nearly 10m of water were pumped out due to the neighboring ongoing excavations. The fore-

(b)
Figure 5. FE (b) and structural analysis (a): typical results.

The evaluation of the remaining strength of the prestressed anchors has been based mainly on the monitoring measurements from inclinometers. The 3D targets were not reliable enough as most of these targets along the height of the retaining wall were installed after the water was pumped out, so in certain positions there was lack of full deformation history.

was revealed that there was only mild surface rust on the tendons with unaffected cross section. By evaluating the former deformation history and the new measurements in relation to the design assumptions, it was concluded that although locally in some anchors the axial loads might reach or exceeded their yield strength, or creep phenomena and loss of prestress might have occurred, a global remaining strength of the anchor tendons could be well above 75%. Despite the adverse conditions that occurred on site, the overall retaining structure behaved unexpectedly within acceptable limits.

CONCLUSIONS

Figure 6. 3D target and inclinometer horizontal displacement measurements.

The overall acceptable behavior of the prestressed anchors is believed to be due to the following important factors: Partial design factors of safety for anchors. Quality construction control (adequate ground-tendon grout cover as corrosion protection)[2]. Complete shotcrete cover of anchor heads (corrosion protection). Non-aggressive ground and water conditions.

It is worth mentioning that for pumping stage level +36, with only the first row of struts being installed, the measured horizontal displacement just behind the wall was in the order of 3mm and the retaining wall displacement in the order of 02mm (Fig. 6). The structural analysis predicted, at same stage with one strut installed and bottom lean concrete, additional horizontal wall displacements of 8.7mm for the 100% of the anchor strength (Fig. 5), i.e. being higher than the measured ones. The final recorded horizontal displacement on the wall at the same section B-B was in the order of 10-22mm, with the 2nd row of struts being installed after the water had reached the bottom of the excavation. From the FE analysis the final additional horizontal displacement was ~14mm, with the two rows of struts being installed in the previous stages (Fig. 5). By on site visual inspections, as some anchors were cut off due the neighboring excavation, it

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors gratefully acknowledge the permission granted by the Management of ATTIKO METRO S.A. to publish this paper. The arguments and conclusions presented in this paper express only the personal opinion of the authors and do not necessarily depict the official view of ATTIKO METRO S.A.

REFERENCES
[1] ATTIKO METRO S.A., Contractor, Detailed Design Reports for the temporary and monitoring works for the project Keramikos underground car park station, 2008-2009 ELOT EN1537, Execution of special geotechnical works-Ground anchors, 1999

[2]