Collaborative Research: A Joint NU-UIUC Project for the Development of New Integrated Tools for Predicting, Monitoring and Controlling Ground Movements due to Excavations

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

This collaborative research project aims to develop new, integrated tools for predicting, monitoring, and controlling ground movements associated with excavations in urban areas. The project is a joint venture between Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The project will explore and develop new technologies that offer substantial promise for greatly enhancing the construction control process and attendant mitigation of ground deformations including: (1) field instrumentation and sensors with wireless communication capabilities, (2) data storage and display, including the display of construction progress and ground and building movements in a virtual reality environment, and, (3) intelligent, self-updating numerical models to simulate the excavation and support process and to compute anticipated ground and structure movements. These new technologies and improvements will be field tested in real time during excavation projects.

Direct Field Calibration 

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

We use a novel, powerful and systematic method to calibrate the constitutive model of the soil behavior directly from field measurements. We will apply the autoprogressive method; a neural network based methodology that has been proposed by Ghaboussi and his co-workers, to the modeling of staged construction for a deep braced excavation. A neural network (NN) material model represents the constitutive model of the soil behavior and will be calibrated using laboratory test and observed field behavior of excavations. Initially, the proposed methodology will be applied to synthetically generated "field measurements" from numerical simulations of deep excavations. The approach will potentially greatly enhance the numerical modeling of geotechnical problems. Field observations and "local experience" can then be directly and systematically incorporated into numerical models.

Measured Performance of Excavations and Jacked Tunnels for the Boston Central Artery/Tunnel Project
Sponsor: Federal Highway AdministrationY.M.A. Hashash, E.J. Cording The Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project, currently under construction in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest public works project currently underway in the United States. The project includes placement of the highway below the ground and involves the construction of deep excavations using diaphragm walls and the largest jacked tunnels in the world below operating railway line. The research project use the electronic instrumentation data base in conjunction with information that will be collected on significant construction stages to develop an understanding of the behavior of the diaphragm wall supported excavation systems and the Jacked Tunnels for CA/T.

Ph.D. Theses:

Marulanda, C., Integration of numerical modeling and field observations of deep excavations, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 269 p.

Related Publications:

32. Hashash, Y. M. A. and R. J. Finno (2008). "Development of new integrated tools for predicting, monitoring and controlling ground movement due to excavations." ASCE Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction Volume 13(Issue 1): pp. 4-10.

Kung, G. T. C., Juang, C. H., Hsiao, E. C. L., and Hashash, Y. M. A. (2007). "A simplified model for wall deflection and ground surface settlement caused by braced excavation in clays." ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering., 133(6), 1-17.

Su, Y. Y., Hashash, Y. M. A., and Liu, L. Y. (2006). "Integration of construction as-built data with geotechnical monitoring of urban excavation." Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 132(12), pp. 1234-1241.

Hashash, Y. M. A., Marulanda, C., Ghaboussi, J., and Jung, S. (2006). "Novel approach to integration of numerical modeling and field observations for deep excavations." Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 132(8), 1019 - 1031.

Hashash, Y. M. A., Park, D., and Yao, J. I.-C. (2005). "Ovaling deformations of circular tunnels under seismic loading, an update on seismic design and analysis of underground structures." Tunneling and Underground Space Technology, 20(5), 435-441.

Hashash, Y.M.A., S. Jung, and J. Ghaboussi, Numerical implementation of a neural network based material model in finite element analysis. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 2004. 59: p. 989-1005.

Hashash, Y.M.A., C. Marulanda, J. Ghaboussi, and S. Jung, Systematic update of a deep excavation model using field performance data. Computers and Geotechnics, 2003. 30: 477-488.

Hashash, Y.M.A., C. Marulanda, K. Kershaw, C. E., D. Druss, D. Bobrow, and P. Das, Temperature correction and strut loads in deep excavations for the Central Artery Project. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 2003. 129(6): pp. 495-505.

Hashash, Y.M.A., E.J. Cording, and J.-M. Oh, Analysis of major shearing of a rock ridge. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 2002. 39: p. 945-957.

Hashash, Y.M.A., J. Ghaboussi, S. Jung, and C. Marulanda. Systematic update of a numerical model of a deep excavation using field performance data. in Eighth International Symposium on Numerical Models in Geomechanics - NUMOG VIII. 2002. Italy: Balkema: 517-522.

Hashash, Y.M.A. and A.J. Whittle, Mechanisms of Load Transfer and Arching for Braced Excavations in Clay. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 2002. 128(3): 187-197.

Hashash, Y.M.A., J. Ghaboussi, S. Jung, and C. Marulanda. Direct field calibration of model simulations of deep excavations. in Plasticity, Damage and Fracture at Macro, Micro and Nanon Scales, Plasticity 2002. 2002. Aruba: NEAT Press: 21-23.

Hashash, Y.M.A., J.J. Hook, B. Schmidt, and J.I.-C. Yao, Seismic design and analysis of underground structure. Tunneling and Underground Space Technology, 2001. 16: 247-293.

Hashash, Y.,M. A. and FitzSimmons, J. 1999, NSF workshop on "Research Needs and Opportunities for Urban Underground Facilities" includes the final report

Hashash, Y.M.A., W.S. Tseng, and A. Krimotat, Seismic soil-structure interaction analysis for immersed tube tunnels retrofit. Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Mechanics III, 1998. 2(75): 1380-1391.

Hashash, Y.M.A. and A.J. Whittle, Ground movement prediction for deep excavations in soft clay. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 1996. 122(6): 474-486.

Whittle, A.J. and Y.M.A. Hashash, Soil modeling and prediction of deep excavatoin behavior, in Pre-failure Deformation of Geomaterials, Shibuya, Mitachi, and Miura, Editors. 1994, A.A. Balkema/Rotterdam. 589-594.

Whittle, A.J., Y.M.A. Hashash, and R.V. Whitman, Analysis of deep excavation in Boston. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 1993. 119(1): 69-90

Hashash, Y.M.A. 1992, "Analysis of Deep Excavations in Soft Clays" Ph.D. Thesis