Investigation of excavation-induced building settlement characteristics and control strategies using capsule expansion technology: field measurements and numerical analysis
摘要
Controlling the deformation of buildings adjacent to the underground excavation in soft soil areas is critical for ensuring urban safety and structural integrity. The capsule expansion technology (CET), as an innovative active control method, merits comprehensive investigation to assess its engineering applicability and underlying control mechanisms. This study first implemented the CET to control building settlement induced by the excavation in Tianjin and established a three-dimensional coupled numerical model validated with field measurement data. The model was used to systematically analyze the CET control mechanism and optimize the control strategy. The capsules were installed prior to excavation and expanded twice during the excavation process. The results show that the CET was successfully applied to control settlement of the adjacent building, limiting it to within 10 mm. Furthermore, the study proposes a dual-metric evaluation approach, combining total deformation volume and peak localized displacement, revealing consistent trends across both metrics. To safeguard buildings adjacent to excavation, the proposed control strategies show that building deformation control can be effectively optimized through three key measures: strategically timed expansions, optimized grouting volume, and multiple real-time expansion (real-time control). Moreover, the control mechanism is clearly identified as the combined action of the direct effect (CET-DE, inducing uplift) and the indirect effect (CET-IE, compensating for stress loss). These findings establish CET as a robust, targeted method for mitigating building settlement near excavations and offer an optimized control strategy with direct implications for future engineering applications.