NUMERICAL ANALYSIS ABOUT BEARING CHARACTERISTICS OF CLOSED DIAPHRAGM WALL UNDER HORIZONTAL LOAD

Closed diaphragm wall foundation is a new type foundation, which is constructed by connecting wall elements into a closed shape with structural connector. The diaphragm wall and the roof slab constitute the shaft-like new foundation structure. It has great stiffness and high bearing capacity. For its large soil core, there is interaction among soil core, walls and external soil. Its load characteristic is different from single wall and caisson. But the current study of diaphragm wall mainly concentrated on the bearing characteristics under vertical load, while just a few studies were on the bearing characteristics under horizontal load. Based on the engineering soil conditions, some impact factors on lateral bearing characteristic were studied including soil core area ratio, soil core shape, chamber number, size and shape of the wall with finite element analysis software Abaqus. The results show that deformation of closed diaphragm walls is both bending and rigid body rotation with great influences on 1/3 height of the wall. Different shapes of closed wall also have quite different characteristics.