Removable Temporary

Ground Anchor Booklet

Freyssinet Hong Kong Ltd

Unit 705-706, 7/F Tower I,
Cheung Sha Wan Plaza,
833 Cheung Sha Wan Road,
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2794 0322
Fax: (852) 2338 3264
Removable Temporary Ground Anchor Booklet 2

CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Single Bore Multiple
Anchor (SBMA)

3.0 Temporary Single

Bore Multiple Anchor

4.0 Materials

5.0 Mechanism of Strand

Removal

Appendix

Jobs Reference

Standard Details Drawings

 Removable Temporary Ground Anchor Booklet 3

1.0 Introduction

Excavation and Lateral Support (ELS) has been a very

important and prominent process in construction projects
that involve basement and deep excavation. The traditional
steel struts support to the retaining walls during excavation,
however, has imposed several limitation to the contractors
both in terms of space and time. One practical solution is the
use of the removable temporary ground anchor system. In
fact, the temporary removable anchors have several
advantages over the traditional method, which are:-
• Creating a clear internal working space for better
maneuvre of plants and machinery.
• Allowing the flexibility of mobilisation of larger output
plants.
• Unrestricted excavation brings about saving to
valuable construction time to meet tight construction
programme. Figure 1. Use of Removable Temporary Ground Anchor
• Reducing the construction cost of installation of large in Hong Kong
temporary steel members and kingposts.

2.0 Single Bore Multiple Anchor (SBMA)

An anchor with a 8m fixed length in soil or rock, will, at test load, need to extend some 25mm at the
proximal end of the fixed length before any load will be transferred to the distal end of the tendon. It is
unusual for the elastic behavior of the grouted soil around the anchor tendon to be compatible with the
elasticity of the tendon and allow a uniform distribution of load along the fixed length. Thus, it is widely
acknowledged that in the majority of circumstances, debonding at the tendon/grout or the grout/ground
interface must occur as anchor load increases and prior to any load being transferred to the distal end of
the fixed length. This phenomenon is commonly known as progressive debonding and is associated
with grossly non-uniform distribution of bond stress along the fixed length at all stages of loading. Load
transfer in grouted bonded tendons and progressive debonding is a subject area that has been
extensively researched and reported in the past.

Progressive debonding generally results in a highly inefficient use of the in-situ ground strength; in the
load condition where the ground strength deep in the fixed length is being utilised, the ground strength
above has been exceeded and only a residual strength is available there at the ground/grout interface.
However, a system that can transfer the load simultaneously to a number of short lengths in the fixed
anchor bore without the occurrence considerable increase in anchor capacity. This is the founding
principle of the single bore multiple anchor system.

Figure 2. Comparsion of Load Tranfer of Normal Anchor and Single Bore Multiple Anchor
 Removable Temporary Ground Anchor Booklet 4

The Single Bore Multiple Anchor involves the

installation of a multiple of unit anchorages in a
single borehole. The encapsulations of the unit
anchorages are located at staggered depths in
the borehole and transfer the load from each unit
anchorage in a controlled manner to a discreet
length of the borehole. The system ensures a
uniform mode of load transfer to the ground over
the entire fixed length and a gross increase in
efficiency in the mobilization of ground strength. It
allows the utilisation of an almost unlimited fixed
length over which load may be transferred. Figure 3. SBMA involves a multiple of unit anchorages at staggered
depths.

3.0 Temporary Single Bore Multiple Anchor

The removable SBMA involves installation of a

multiple anchor with sleeved and greased strands
into a single borehole. Each anchor consists of
several pairs of strand (unit anchor), each pair of
strand will pass around and anchor onto saddle.
The details of saddle is shown in Figure 5 and
illustrated in the Section 4.0. The numbers of pair
of strands depend on the design force of the
anchor. After the installation of the anchor into
the borehole, the anchor will be grouted as for
normal anchor. Figure 5. Fabrication of SBMA

For long anchor, all unit anchors in one single

bore are stressed simultaneously by one jack,
however, when the anchor is short, the extension
for every unit anchor due to the staggered length
may differ significantly, in this case, every unit
anchor shall be stressed separately by a special
twin jack. The load transfer mechanism of the
anchor starts from the jack onto the strand, then
onto the saddle, then onto the grout and finally
onto the bedrock.

Upon completion of the permanent works, the

anchorage will be distressed and removed. The
explanation on the removal mechanism of the
tendon will be discussed in Section 5.

4.0 Materials
Figure 5. Fabrication of SBMA
The Tendon in Anchor shall consist of specified
number of 15.7mm stress-relieved seven wire Nominal Diamter 15.7mm
supper strand complying with BS5896. The Nominal Steel Area 150mm2
characteristics of strand are specified in table 1. Nominal Mass 1.18kg/m
Nominal Ultimate
1860N/mm2
Tensile Strength, Pult
Nominal Breaking Load 279kN
Modulus of Elasticity 195kN/mm2
Max. Relaxation at 1000
2.5%
Hrs (At 70% Pult)
Table 1. Characteristics of Strand
 Removable Temporary Ground Anchor Booklet 5

As mentioned in Section 2.0, in the case of temporary SBMA, pair of strand will pass around the saddle. In
general, there are two types of saddle available and supplied by Freyssinet: metal and non-metal. The type
of saddle used in the anchor is subject to the project’s specification. The metal saddle is presented in
Figure 6a and 6b. The non-metal saddle is made by aluminum and details are shown in Figure 7a and 7b.
Steel Stabilizing Bar

Steel Saddle

Steel Saddle Strand GRP Stabilizing Bar

Figure 6a. Metal Saddle Figure 6b. Metal Saddle

Aluminum Saddle

Aluminum Saddle GRP Stabilizing Bar

Figure 7a. Metal Saddle Figure 7b. Metal Saddle

The saddle will be connected to stabilizing bar which would be formed of metal or fibre glass bar (GRP bar)
which is subjected to the project’s specification. The length of stabilizing is depended on the working load
of the anchor and shall referring to the recommendation by Freyssinet.

5.0 Mechanism of Strand Removal

The temporary SBMA system provided by Freyssinet allows for the removal of the entire anchor tendon.
Removable anchorages can be de-stressed and the full length of strand can be removed by pulling one
end of each pair of strand, the strand will pass around the saddle and come out. The mechanism of
removal is shown in Figure 8. Removal is undertaken when the final support is in position, all that is left
within the ground at depth are small saddles, stabilizing bar and plastic components together with the grout
column. All these left-in materials are easily destructible parts and therefore will not pose problem for a
future neighbouring foundation activities.

Figure 8. Removal Mechanism of Strand in Anchor

Removable Temporary Ground Anchor Booklet 6

Appendix

Jobs Reference
 Removable Temporary Ground Anchor Booklet 7

Project: Redevelopment of Caritas Medical Centre Phase II – Removable Ground

Anchors
Date of Completion 2011
Client: Caritas Medical Centre
Engineer: Meinhardt (C & S) Ltd
Contractor: Vibro (H.K.) Ltd
Freyssinet’s Scope: Supply and Installation of Pre-stressed Ground Anchors

Figure 1 – General View of Ground Anchors in the project

Project Background

The objectives of this redevelopment project

are to enhance the operational efficiency of
the entire hospital and to provide clinical
space for expanded hospital services. This is
to be achieved by demolition of the existing
5-level building and construction of new
ambulatory and rehabilitation (A&R) building
block with 15-storey high superstructure and
5-level basement.

The site’s topography is approximately

rectangular, 140 m long by 38m wide,
bounded by an access road within the hospital
area (at level of +24.5mPD) in the north
direction, Wing Hong Street (at level of
+7.0mPD) in the south direction, with slopes
in the east and west direction. There is an
18m high level difference between access
road and Wing Hong Street, which are
retained by the structural screen walls of the
existing building. The site formation work
include ELS work for the proposed
superstructure, demolition of the existing
building and screen walls.

The bored pile wall with temporary ground

anchor system shown in Figure 2 has been
adopted as the ELS system in the Engineer’s
design.

Figure 2 – Bored Pile Wal with Temporary Removable Anchor as Tie Back
 Removable Temporary Ground Anchor Booklet 8

Ground Anchor Installation

The ground anchor work is located at the north and east

part of the site. As part of the ground anchors are
located within the drainage and water work reserve
zone, the anchors installed in this area need to be
removed after the completion of basement works. The
rest of the anchors that are located within the hospital
boundary will be just distressed and left in the ground.

There are four to six layers of ground anchors designed

to support the bored-pile retaining wall. The demolition
work of the existing building commenced after the
completion of the bored pile wall and was carried out in
parallel with the anchor installation. Figure 3 – Stressing of Temporary Ground Anchors

Removable
Left-in Anchor
Anchor
removed

Figure 4 – General Layout Plan of the Ground Anchors in ELS

Figure 5 – Installation of Tendon into borehole Figure 6 – Removal of Strands from anchors
 Removable Temporary Ground Anchor Booklet 9

Conclusion

This case study shows that adoption of temporary

ground anchors provides both a cost effective and
site efficient solution to the job. Due to the large
unbalanced lateral soil load, ground anchor
system has been used instead of mega shoring
system. This method also provides very good
working space for piling work. The removable
ground anchor system also provides a solution
where there may be a land occupation issue with a
third party.

The SBMA system has been used extensively and

successfully throughout the world. This system
could be adopted in different retaining structures
varies from the sheet pile walls to a deep
diaphragm wall, and it also could be adopted in
slope stabilizing project and any other application Figure 7 – Drilling of boreholes for anchors construction
that we would like to develop with you.

Figure 8 – The Ground Anchors in ELS successfully reserve a Clear Space for Foundation Activities
Removable Temporary Ground Anchor Booklet 10

Appendix

Standard Details Drawings

 Unit 705-6, 7/F, Tower I, Cheung Sha Wan Plaza,
833 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel.: 2794 0322 Fax: 2338 3264
Website : http://www.freyssinet.com
E-mail : info@freyssinet.com.hk

C:\Documents and Settings\Joe Li\My Documents\Joe\Misc\Matthew\2012-02-28 ANCHOR\GA-SD-001_A.dwg, 03/27/12 17:38:07, doPDF v6.pc3
 Unit 705-6, 7/F, Tower I, Cheung Sha Wan Plaza,
833 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel.: 2794 0322 Fax: 2338 3264
Website : http://www.freyssinet.com
E-mail : info@freyssinet.com.hk

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