Two-dimensional base stability of excavations in soft soils using FEM

Abstract The 2D base stability of excavations is evaluated using FEM with reduced shear strength. The numerical results indicate that the base stability of excavations is significantly influenced by the ratio of the depth to the width of the excavations, the thickness of the soft soil layer between the excavation base and hard stratum, the depth of the walls inserted below the excavation base, and the stiffness of the walls around the excavation. Closed form equations considering embedment depth under the base of braced excavation has been proposed based on the upper bound analysis and compared with the FE results.