Numerical and Field Measurement Investigation on Foundation Pit Excavation Blasting of Anchor in Suspension Bridge

Abstract

The foundation pit of a suspension bridge project in the Three Gorges Reservoir area is investigated in this paper. The pit is located under an unstable rock mass and landslide body; its base lithology is mudstone. The bridge foundation pit project mainly adopts blasting excavation to accelerate construction progress. However, as a hazardous technique to engineering safety, the explosion vibration easily causes deterioration of the surrounding strata, thereby inducing slope instability and rock mass collapse. Besides, three major challenges should be considered: complex terrain conditions, difficulties in the blasting excavation of anchors, and the extremely high risk of construction. Therefore, comprehensive risk control measures using the methods of hierarchical excavation and minimum charge blasting are put forward. After the measures were verified to be feasible through finite element simulation, it was successfully applied to actual construction. In addition, this paper proposes using fiber concrete to reinforce slope retaining walls, and simulates the reinforced effect based on the research above. The results indicate that the risk control scheme is reasonable, which not only ensures the construction process but also guarantees the stability of the slope and unstable rock body. At the same time, the slope is reinforced with fiber concrete, which effectively decreases the protection wall thickness. Finally, the article can provide a valuable reference for similar engineering projects around the world.

Keywords

• suspension bridge
• foundation pit
• blasting excavation
• risk control measures