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Geotec Hanoi 2011 October ISBN 978-604-82-000-8

Tie Back Lateral Support System by Directional Drill in Deep Excavation, Underpinning and Lateral Support for Monuments and Trees
Chris Cheung AECOM Asia Co. Ltd, HKSAR, China. E-mail: chris.cheung@aecom.com. Alan Lai AECOM Asia Co. Ltd, HKSAR, China. E-mail:alan.lai@aecom.com. PL Leung AECOM Asia Co. Ltd, HKSAR, China. E-mail: paklok.leung@aecom.com. Keywords: Tie back, Directional Drill, Deep Excavation, Underpinning, Monuments, Lateral Support ABSTRACT: This paper presents a monument redevelopment project in urban districts in Hong Kong. This redevelopment included the preservation and modification of existing monuments, preservation of existing trees and construction of new basement and podium structure. It provided a leisure high end retail environment and merging the new building into the historical building complex. About depth of 17 m deep excavation and lateral support (ELS) with clearance from the monuments less than 3 m was required to facilitate that redevelopment. Innovative approach and the pioneering of the application of the Directional Drilling method for ELS provided unyielding support to the historical main building without causing any adverse effect, resolved the constraints of very tight clearance from the site boundary and limited penetration depth of pile wall into the ground due to the site was located above the proposed railway tunnel (hereinafter called KCRC tunnel) which was being constructed concurrently with this redevelopment. Different underpinnings and lateral support systems also contributed to the preservation of the valuable trees and existing signal tower, one of the monuments. 1. INTRODUCTION Major works in this project involved (see Figure 2 and Figure 3): - Excavation around monuments and preserved the major trees for new building construction - Construction of new building which includes 3 levels of new building and one level of basements at the western and southern sides - Road widening at Kowloon Park Drive

The site is located in the heart of the high-end retail and cultural centre of Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. The heritage complex consists of the Former Marine Police Headquarters, the Signal Tower, the Stable House, the Fire Station and the Accommodation Block. These buildings were constructed between 1881 and 1920, and declared as monuments under the Hong Kong Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance in 1994 (Figure 1). The aim of the developer and Planning Department of Government was through restoration, preservation, and conversion to develop the site into a sustainable commercial and tourism-themed development. The project involved tree preservation, alteration and addition to existing heritage buildings in order to create a boutique hotel with high-end retail and restaurants. These buildings are some of Hong Kongs oldest examples of buildings constructed during the early stage of the British Colony. They have now been revitalized and have re-emerged as a major landmark in Tsim Sha Tsui 1881 Heritage. It is the largest completed private section conservation and revitalization project in Hong Kong.

Figure 1 General View of the Site before Construction

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Geotec Hanoi 2011 October ISBN 978-604-82-000-8

CDG is the Completely to Highly Decomposed Granite (C/HDG) with SPTN value over 100. Underneath the C/HDG is the Moderately Decomposed Granite (MDG). Water table is at 12m below the original platform level i.e. about 2m below the surrounding roads. The groundwater is mainly affected by the tidal effect as the site is close to the Victoria Harbour. 3. SITE CONSTRAINTS

Figure 2 General View of the Site after Construction

Main Building Road Widening


Underground Lift Shaft and Tunnel

There were a lot of constraints including requirement of government on the preservation of the monument, trees, KCRC tunnel protection zone, which KCRC protection zone is to facilitate the future development early a tunnel in Hong Kong, and adjoining features. The redevelopment has to take into account the site constraints and achieve the aim of the development.

3.1 Major constraints All the monument structures, except the Fire Station and the Accommodation Block, were located at an elevated platform supported by slopes and retaining walls with an elevation 10 m above the adjoining ground (see Figure 1). To the north of the site was a commercial building No. 1 Peking Road. It was bounded by Kowloon Park Drive, Salisbury Road and Canton Road at the eastern side, southern side and western side respectively, which are all heavy traffic road. A lot of trees were located on the original elevated platform and on the slopes. Most of the trees were transplanted and few of them were fallen at the beginning of the project. Important trees, such as tree T10, T54 and T96, had to be preserved in-situ by means of underpinning or lateral support system to suite the design of the architectural design (see Figure 2 and Figure 3). Moreover, percussive piling was not permitted as it would affect the operation of Hong Kong Cultural Centre. To the east of the Main Building, there was only about 4m to 8m between the Kowloon Park Drive and the edge of the Main Building. To the west of the Main Building, there was KRCR tunnel protection zone where no structure was allowed to be lower than +2.0mPD within the KCRC tunnel protection zone. Excavation and lateral support system had to take into account such site constraints. The major site constraints are summarized as below and shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5. As-built drawings could not be Foundation condition was not known. found.

T96 T10 T54 Existing fire station

Signal Tower
Tree to be preserved Figure 3 Key features preserved by means of lateral support or underpinning structures

2.

GROUND CONDITIONS

The site was a flat platform which was about 10m higher than the surrounding ground (i.e. +14.5 mPD). The ground condition was stable within this site. The Main Building and Signal Tower are being supported by shallow foundation resting on Completely Decomposed Granite (CDG) with SPTN ranged from 8 to 48. The founding level is about 1.2m below ground. Above the CDG/founding level of footing is a thin layer of fill which was the backfill after the construction of the shallow foundation. Below the

Condition of structure of the monuments was not known. Some of the parts of the Main
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Geotec Hanoi 2011 October ISBN 978-604-82-000-8

Building were made up by some wood and bricks which was unlike the reinforced concrete or steel structure nowadays. There would be antiquities buried in the disused tunnel. There would be explosive object in the disused tunnel given that this site was occupied by the army in the past. Pile depth limited due to KCRC protection zone; Existing soil nail at the northern part would clash with any tie back system; Insufficient room for structure to laterally support the retaining wall for Kowloon Park Drive Road Widening Works; KCRC protection zone dictated the structure to be found on grade and the maximum height of building was also limited at +14.5 mPD. Therefore, there was insufficient self weight for the structure to laterally support the soil and the Main Building. Monuments were sensitive to any vibration, movement and settlement. The clearance between the excavation face of bulk excavation (about 12m deep excavation) and the edge of Main Building was only 2.8m.

Figure 4 Layout Plan of Major Constraints

Site boundary

Settlement

Figure 5 Sections to show the Major Constraints 4. INVESTIGATION

4.1 Desk Study Owing to the missing of as-built records, information about as-built could only be obtained from different sources of indirect information such as photos, Archeological record etc. Some of the key features in this project were identified by desk study such as the Hong Kong Cultural Centre operation could not extent of basement, the abandoned water tank which be affected which is sensitive to any ground was buried underground and was located at the middle borne noise i.e. the vibration due to of the open courtyard and also the disused tunnel. They were very important features in the Archeological study construction could not be significant. and also part of them needed to be preserved, surveyed and recorded based on the requirements of this project. Desk study was an important step to plan the future ground investigation in a cost effective way. It could minimize the risk of damaging the monuments and also Not minimize the risk from having any explosion due to enough hitting any explosive objects buried underground.

space

4.2 Ground Investigation After desk study has been carried out, site visits with visual inspection by experience architects and engineers were conducted to review if the building has been further modified from the available information. Then a comprehensive ground investigation could be planned. In-situ ground investigation was carried out to confirm the geological conditions, types and extent of foundation, the founding material and conditions, extent of basement, the location of the disused tunnels and the abandoned buried water tank. Bored holes were adopted to confirm the deep ground conditions. Trial
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Geotec Hanoi 2011 October ISBN 978-604-82-000-8

pits and trial trenches were adopted to review the foundation conditions. Geophysical survey by means of Ground Penetration Radar (GPR), which was selected based on the geological and the site conditions, was carried out to determine the footing extent, especially for those areas were considered difficult to carry out any trial trenches and trial pits, the alignment of disused tunnels and also the buried water tank. Calibration of the geophysical survey was carried out by using the in-situ ground investigation results. Since there was a lot of trees which part of them were needed to be preserved in-situ and some of them were needed to be transplanted, the ground investigation could not affect the trees. The slope stability during the whole investigation was also a concern which the ground investigation or construction works could not raise the water table otherwise the stability of the slope or retaining wall would be adversely affected. Therefore, air-foam was adopted as the flushing media in the sinking the boreholes. Material specialists were also consulted to review the strength of materials for the brick and the wood structures. It was important for the engineers to review if the building was stable and understood which parts of building needed immediate support and also determine the tolerable settlement/differential settlement. 5. SCHEMES FOR EXCAVATION LATERAL SUPPORTS (ELS) AND

Soldier pile

Horizontal tie

Figure 6 Sections to show the adopted scheme

Figure 7 Typical Cross Section of Horizontal Tie That solution served the following advantages: - With increasing of no. of rows of horizontal tie and large section of soldier pile, the soldier pile did not need to be installed within the KCRC zone. - With larger section of soldier pile at the northern part, the number of row of horizontal tie could be minimized. It avoided the clashing between new horizontal ties and the existing soil nails at the northern part. - Horizontal tie back could support the wall without needing the support in front of the wall which resolved the site constraint due to limited space in front of the wall at Kowloon Park Drive. Road widening could be achieved. - Structures at the eastern and western sides did not need to support the wall since the horizontal tie back system provides the support instead. Therefore, the design of the structure above KCRC protection zone did not need to consider the lateral load from the wall. Trial installation of soldier pile has been carried out to verify if there will be any adverse effect to the monument prior to massive installation. The results showed that the installation would
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5.1 Excavation and Lateral Support around Main Building The ELS system consisted of two elements; they were pile wall and lateral support (Figure 6) Permanent Soldier Pile Walls, at spacing 0.7m to 1.3m (internal diameters were 550mm and 730mm respectively) with maximum clearance between soldier piles of 400mm and 900mm respectively, with about 55m long horizontal tie back system (diameter was 219mm) were proposed as the lateral support system (see Figure 7). Prior to excavation, soldier pile would be installed.

Geotec Hanoi 2011 October ISBN 978-604-82-000-8

not induced significant adverse effect to the buildings under a good control of the workmanship such as installation rate etc. Comprehensive instrumentation monitoring system was provided to monitor the effect to surrounding due to construction works. Prior to the commencement, environmental assessment due to this development has been carried out prior to the commencement of the site works. Background vibration/ground borne noise due to existing site conditions such as heavy traffic etc. was carried out to check the difference before and after the construction works. Then a series of control actions were set up so that the construction works could be carried out under control and mitigation works could be carried out if found necessary.

However, there were still some concerns about that scheme. The length of drilling was about 55m. Moreover, The horizontal ties needed to allow flexibility for two proposed vertical underground lift shafts and two horizontal tunnels so that the existing public at the existing road could access to the hotel by that tunnels and lifts. Those tunnels and lift shafts were constructed later by other Contractor. The spacing between horizontal ties could not be too wide in order to control the settlement of the buildings during excavation. Therefore, the clearance between the horizontal ties and the proposed lifts and tunnels were very limited i.e. only 500mm (see Figure 8). Could the horizontal tie be installed towards the target? What kind of methods should be used? Could the traditional installation method be used? of horizontal tie.

was commonly adopted for the underground utility laying. It was adopted to avoid any depression of the drillhole alignment due to the self weight of the drill rod and long distance drilling. It also monitored any deviation during the drilling so that the drilling direction could be adjusted towards the target. The mechanism of the HDD could limit the deviation of the drill tip for the whole drilling length so that the horizontal tie could be come out within the limited spacing between soldier piles. The installation length could be up to 2000m. There are different types of heads used in the piloting system which depend on the geological material and the site physical conditions. In general, there are two piloting methods for directional drilling; they are external and internal methods. The most common type for external navigation system is electromagnetic detector and ground penetration radar which was adopted as the navigation system for the first 2 top layers. The common type of internal navigation system is laser scanning method which was used for the deeper layers of horizontal tie. For installation of 1st and 2nd top layers, a specialist carried walk-over guiding equipment transmitting an electromagnetic wave to the transducer in order to monitor the alignment of the drill-rod at the west to east (Kowloon Park Drive side). Skill labours with proper calibration to eliminate the ambient noise to the signal were required in the electromagnetic wave method. The drilling machines were located at the west of the site (Canton Road side). A transducer was installed in front of the drilling rod. Guided pilot hole drilling with a diameter 76mm was installed by Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) method. The horizontal tie holes with opening frames for the holes were formed at both sides of the pile walls and their respective alignments on the ground surface was set out. Bentonite slurry was used as the drilling fluid for specific horizontal tie holes in order to minimize the impact to the Main Building above. A walk-over drill head tracking system was used to track the position of the drill head during the whole course of the pilot hole drilling for the shallow row of horizontal drilling since they are shallow and their tracks were easy to monitor. The driller should adjust the direction of the drilling according to the drill head tracker information provided via a remote display so that real time hole steering was possible (see Figure 9 and Figure 10).
Drill head Moving in straight line

Very limited clearance

New underground vertical lift shaft Horizontal tie

New undergroun d tunnel

Soldier pile

Figure 8 Alignment of horizontal ties to allow flexibility for proposed underground vertical lift shaft and tunnels 5.1.1 Horizontal Directional Drill (HDD) An innovative idea by using the - Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) Method for the excavation and lateral support was then proposed. HDD method

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Geotec Hanoi 2011 October ISBN 978-604-82-000-8

Figure 9 Pilot hole drilling in soil in straight line


Drill head

Figure 11 Cross section of installation of Horizontal Tie

Change direction of moving (no rotation)

Figure 10 Changing direction of pilot hole in soil. For the deeper layers, optical (laser) equipment was installed at the head of drilling rod to monitor the alignment of the rod for each 5m drilling. The reason of adopting the optical method for the lower layers was that the electromagnetic wave would be disturbed by the steel bars of upper layers of installed horizontal ties. The optical method required a precise setting out of the drilling equipments. Counter checking on the setting out points at the optical drilling equipments were provided and the equipments should be carefully protected from any disturbance to ensure the setting out of the drilling equipments were drilled with the right alignment. The alignment of the drilling rod and the laser inside the drilling rod were set by surveying towards the target. Through the control display, the drill head alignment could be monitored. Once the drill head deviated from the target, the drill rod alignment should be adjusted towards the target again. After the pilot hole was formed from west to east and came out from the target, the pilot bit was replaced by a back reamer of 235mm diameter on the other side of the cofferdam. 219mm diameter steel casing was fixed and attached to the back reamer via a swivel. The hole was then back reamed from east to west to from a hole for the 219mm diameter casing to pass through. The steel bars (4T50) (Figure 7) were then installed by pulling by the guided wire fixed to the steel bar from west to east and pushing from the eastern side simultaneously until the whole tie was installed. After the steel fixing, grouting was then carried out. Grouting was carried out by means of pumped grouting into the drilled hole with a vent hole higher (about 500mm) than the ties until the grout was come out from the vent hole to ensure the void inside the pile is fully grouted. Figure 12 shows the general procedures of the horizontal tie installation.
219mm back reaming

1) 75mm Pilot Drilling 2) 219mm back reaming with steel casing 3) Installation of steel bar

Figure 12 Sequence of Horizontal Tie Installation The application of horizontal ties was successful, as there was no any sign of distress at the Main Building during the ties installation and excavation. The settlement induced by the excavation at the Main Building was less than 10mm. The most difficult part in the whole drilling process was the drilling met the interface between the soft and hard material (i.e. soil and rock interface). That made the adjustment of the alignment more difficult which required more time to adjust the alignment. 3 numbers of trial tie installations, namely P1, P8 and P18, were carried out prior to the installation of remaining working ties in order to verify the practicality of directional drill, piloting system and whether there would be any adverse effect to the Main Building. The results are summarized as follows.
Table 1 - Summary of Trial Tie Installation Tie Tolerance Tolerance Length/m and and Levels of Levels of Start End Points Points (western (eastern side) side) P1 52.47m 40mm 60mm 12.85 12.82 mPD mPD P8 54.44m 60mm 50mm 12.7 mPD 12.86 mPD P18 55.45m 10mm 10mm 11.48 11.67 mPD mPD Tolerance

Hor. 1/2624 Vert. 1/1749 Hor. 1/495 Vert. 1/340 Hor. 1/2773 Vert. 1/292

76mm pilot hole (by directional drilling)

Remarks: The platform ground level is +14.5mPD

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Geotec Hanoi 2011 October ISBN 978-604-82-000-8

No settlement at the building and the ground was observed and measured due to the installation of the horizontal tie. This system provides a reliable locking system as compare with traditional grouting between soil/rock and grout. It provided a reliable lateral support to this Main Building which was sensitive to settlement. There was not any adverse effect to the Main Building due to the installation of the horizontal tie i.e. installation of horizontal tie by the method as described above in CDG or better was satisfactory.

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Geotec Hanoi 2011 October ISBN 978-604-82-000-8

Table 2- Summary Table of using Directional Drilling against Non-Directional Drilling Directional Drilling Non-Directional Drilling Construction According to the 1:75 tolerance trial installation of the tie, the precision could be more precise than 1:292 in vertical and 1:495 in horizontal. Require pilot Yes. 75mm pilot No. hole hole with a piloting system is required. There are different piloting systems which should be determined due to different site constraints. No. of drilling Two. First is for One. per horizontal the pilot hole tie (75mm). Second is for the reaming to form the hole with designed diameter Alignment can Yes. No. be controlled Cost Higher Cheaper Time Longer. However, Shorter. However, it minimizes the there would be a time of re-drill the high rise of having hole due to a hole with mismisalignment alignment. Re-drill the hole may be required. Application To be used in area To be used in area with a precise without any alignment. E.g. strengthen site Underground constraints and utilities installation, there is not any drilling with major consequence sensitive feature due to misalignment nearby which is of the drillhole. very easy to be Alignment is in disturbed and the straight line (for alignment does not short distance). need to be in Long distance straight line. drilling would cause depression of the drilling alignment due to self weight of the casing and drilling rod. Specialist Specialist is Only normal skill required. labour is required.

Table 3 - Summary Table of Horizontal Tie against traditional tie back system Horizontal Tie Traditional Tie Back e.g. soil nail, ground anchor Crash of tie Very low risk. Risk is high as back from east alignment is difficult and west side to control for long distance drilling. Interact with Very low risk Low risk for short adjacent tie tie back. High risk for long tie Substantial Deviation can be Cannot be mitigated change of controlled and and misalignment direction due to mitigated cannot identified. soft/hard material interface Performance Simple system. Performance Verification Only Mechanical depends on grouting fixings or welding interface between at both ends of soil, rock and the horizontal tie. steel which tests are required to verify the performance of the bonding.

5.2 Supporting system for the Trees and the Signal Tower Two supporting methods were adopted for preservation of the tree and Signal Tower to facilitate the excavation and construction around the trees and the Signal Tower. Underpinning method for T10 and T96 Steel Cage method for T54 and Signal Tower

5.2.1 Underpinning method for T10 and T96 Underpinnings of the trees were required to facilitate the construction of the new structure. Before finalize the scheme, the followings should be considered. Tree type; Root ball extent i.e. depth and the horizontal distance of the tree root; Treatment/protection to the tree before, during and after construction works. Tree root should be protected away from any cement; Temporary access to the tree for inspection and carrying our any protective measure to the tree during excavation; Impact to the construction programme due to preservation of the tree such as root pruning
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Geotec Hanoi 2011 October ISBN 978-604-82-000-8

The above needed the advices from the tree expert. Coordination with them was important in determination of the scheme. As advised by the tree expert, the trees were Chinese Banyan Tree. The diameters of root ball and the soil mass to be preserved were both 12m. The thickness of the soil mass needed to be supported was 3m. Root pruning was required prior to any construction works around the tree to encourage the growth of new feeder roots along the root ball. It was carried out in stages (separated into three cycles) which each cycle took about 2 months. Underpinning by means of socket H-piles with horizontal pipe piles and steel girders were used to support the trees T10 and T96. Due to the large span and the heavy weight of soil mass, steel girders with depth of beam over 900mm were adopted. In the design consideration, the dead load of the tree, the soil and the wind load acting on the tree should be considered. Different failure mechanisms were considered as illustrated in the Figure 15. Should the weight of the tree be insufficient to provide the frictional force, there should be shear connector at the bottom of concrete ring to connect with the horizontal pipe pile. Buckling of the socket H-pile should be checked under the maximum horizontal load and the maximum compression load.

Socket H piles were installed at first. The installation of them required high headroom which was about 6m to 8m. The branches of the trees should be carefully protected. Local excavation with lateral support was carried out to allow sufficient headroom for the piling rigs to be operated. Air foam was adopted as the flushing media. Odex method and down-the-hole hammer were adopted to form the hole for placing of the steel H-section. Grouting was carefully controlled to ensure no cement was spread on the tree and the root as well. 1.5m depth Concrete ring with steel reinforcement was constructed segment by segment by local excavation. Subsequent 1.5m concrete was then constructed after the 1st ring completed by the same method as well until the whole 3m depth concrete ring completed. Reinforcement inside the ring was used to take up the tension load. Driving pit formed by means of local excavation deeper than the ring at one side of the tree ring was then carried out for the installation of the horizontal pipe pile which served as secondary beam to support the tree and soil mass. Hand mining method with temporary support by steel frames was carried out to form hand mined tunnels for the installation of girders. The headroom of it should be sufficient for the labours to work inside i.e. minimum 2m (Figure 17). The girder was then installed by sliding them from the opening of the mined tunnel to underneath the tree. They were then fixed on top of the socket H-piles i.e. trees were supported by the piles. Then excavation was carried out underneath the girder. Lateral bracing to the socket H-piles was then provided to prevent them from failure due to buckling.

Figure 15 Design considerations of underpinning Figure 17 Hand mined tunnel for girder installation

Figure 16 Plan view of underpinning structure


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b. The excavation near to the lower portion required grouting prior to excavation. The excavation around the circular column was separated into several portions (see Figure 20). Footing for the permanent structure was also constructed at stages, i.e. separated into panels, with respect to the excavation sequence at the footing level. c. Horizontal load on the tree due to wind load was particularly important which included both overturning, sliding and the complementary shear contributed to the lagging plate and the welding of the steel cage which was to resist the deformation of the steel cage. The condition of soil at the base of the excavation was nearly to Highly Decomposed Granite (HDG). The bearing capacity was sufficient.

Figure 18 Underpinning for T96

Figure 20 T54 rested on grade and above KCRC tunnel protection zone and Section Figure 19 Underpinning for T10 The stiffness of the lateral support of waling beam around the pipe pile wall was obtained by a setting up a structural model. Preliminary size of the waling was adopted to obtain the apparent stiffness of the waling beam around the pipe pile wall. This can be achieved by applying a virtual load (H kPa) on the ring and the corresponding lateral deflection () was then obtained. The apparent stiffness (k) of the waling was then obtained by using the formula of k = H/. The k value was then input to the 2-Dimension soil structure interaction model, a finite element model, as the lateral support to the pipe pile wall. Then a realistic loading on the pipe pile wall and the waling could be obtained. The preliminary size of the waling could be reviewed. Structural model was then updated by using the revised waling and the corresponding stiffness could be obtained. Subsequent analysis was then carried out again until the results were converged.

5.2.2 Steel Cage Method for T54 and Signal Tower 5.2.2.1 Steel Cage Method for Tree No. T54 For tree no. T54, it was located directly above the KCRC tunnel protection zone, therefore, no part of the structure could be lower than +2.0mPD (see Figure 4 and Figure 5 and Figure 20). The diameter of the root ball and the soil mass needed to be supported was 9m which was advised by the tree expert. Tree pruning around the root ball of the tree was carried out in stages (separated into three cycles) which each cycle took about 2 months. Pipe pile wall with steel lagging plate and waling to form a circular shape steel cage to contain the soil supporting the tree was adopted as the lateral support system. The final excavation was very near to the KCRC protection zone, therefore, special considerations were made. a. Waling at the portion near to the excavation level was very closely spaced in order to maintain kick out stability.

5.2.2.2 Steel Cage Method for Signal Tower Desk study and also field trial pits were carried out in order to confirm the nature, conditions and the extent of
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shallow foundation to support the Signal Tower. The foundation was found at approximate 1.5 m below ground and the footing edge was at the same as the outer edge of the Signal Tower. Similar to tree T54, pipe pile to form a circular support to the Signal Tower was adopted. Signal Tower was much sensitive to settlement than the tree. It was located outside the KCRC tunnel protection zone therefore, the pipe pile could be embedded deeper to provide the kick out stability and minimize the settlement as well. The weight of the Tower and the corresponding wind load acting on the lateral support system was considered. The most challenge elements in the design of that ELS was that it has to be integrated to the basement ELS (see Figure 21). The basement was about further 6m below adjacent road i.e. the bottom of basement was actually about 16m below the original ground surface around Signal Tower. The struts around the steel cage of the signal tower should be designed in such a manner to avoid any unbalance load acting on the steel cage otherwise, there would be stability problem at the steel cage supporting the Signal Tower.

consultation to the material expert to review the strength of material that was not typical material nowadays; Structural engineer to review the tolerable limits of the monument based on the site conditions; coordination with tree expert to set up the construction programme taking into account the required time for the root pruning and the size of the root/soil mass needed to be preserved and also the maintenance access for the tree during construction period; innovative thinking constraints; to resolve the site

carrying out trial installation of major activities which would be sensitively to the monuments; carrying out trial of new element, which there was insufficient job experience in adopting them in the new aspect, to verify if the scheme was feasible. carrying out supervision. the works under a close

The key solutions to mitigate the site constraints were the adoptions of horizontal tie system, a combination of different ELS systems such as the tree underpinning structure in this project which included hand-mining tunnel, concrete tree ring and lateral support were adopted to support the tree. Application of HDD in this project was successful. Further application of the HDD for deep excavation could be considered as follows: Figure 21 ELS for Signal Tower - Drill any hole for soil nail or tie back support for retaining wall which is very near to the sensitive receiver such as railway structure, existing foundation, tunnel, reservoir etc. - Install the horizontal pipe pile for tunnel construction 7. REFERENCES

6. CONCLUSION There were a lot of site constraints in the redevelopment of Heritage 1881. A systematic approach has been carried out so that the project was completed successfully. They were listed as below. -

detail desk study including find out the photo, Geotechnical Engineer Office, GEOGUIDE 1 Guide to study the archaeological information so to Retaining Wall Design Second Edition, October, 1993 identify the key feature or any high risk element; Geotechnical Engineer Office, GCO Publication No. since there was not any as-built for monument; 1/90, Review of Design Methods for Excavations site visit by experienced person; identify all site constraints; ground investigation including geophysical survey and also in-situ boreholes, trial pits and trial trenches;

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