Study on the Influence of Wall Spacing on Double Diaphragm Wall Supporting Structure for Ship Lock Expansion

Abstract

Abstract Given China’s economic growth, current river ship locks in the Beijiang channel are reaching saturation. Ship lock expansion at key navigation terminals is imminent. This paper took Qingyuan’s new second-line ship lock in Guangdong, China as the engineering case, were a double diaphragm wall was utilized as the support scheme. Currently, there are very few engineering examples of this type of support structure both in China and abroad. Through the geotechnical finite element analysis software MIDAS GTS NX, a 3D finite element model was constructed to study the deformation and internal stresses of the support structure and adjacent ship lock, during the new ship lock’s foundation pit excavation, under different wall spacing. Based on the engineering case simulation results under different double diaphragm wall spacing, conclusions are reached on the influence and behaviour of the wall spacing double diaphragm wall structural parameter.