Finite element analysis of a deep excavation: A case study from the Bangkok MRT

Abstract

The Bangkok metropolitan area, located on a thick river soft clay deposit, has recently started a construction project on a mass rapid transit underground railway (MRT). This paper presents a finite element study on the Bangkok MRT underground construction project. The excavation of Sukhumvit Station was selected as the case study for the FEM numerical modelling in this paper. The numerical study focuses on the initial input on the ground conditions and the constitutive soil models. The geotechnical parameters were selected based on the soil investigation reports carried out for the purpose of the construction. The parameters selected for the constitutive models used in the FEM analysis were calibrated against the laboratory testing results. Finally, all the FEM simulations were compared with the data from field investigations.