Sinking caisson

serves as excavation and

permanent support structure

The sinking caisson concrete walls are

the permanent support structure in
addition to having been the excavation
support system for this mill scale pit.
Using this method saved 9 weeks of
construction time.

struction time and 18 percent of the

n 1985, a casting plant in Dear-
originally estimated construction
costs.
The sinking caisson works by us-
ing the drag force of the soil that acts
against the exterior and interior
caisson walls. Excavating the soil re-
duces the drag force along the inte-
rior walls, allowing the caisson to
sink under its own dead weight. As
the caisson slowly sinks, increasing
its embedded length, the drag force
increases because of more wall con-
tact area. The caisson stops sinking
when the drag force has increased
to equal the caisson weight. The
next concrete lift can be placed and
interior excavation begun to start
the sinking process again.
Using the sinking caisson proce-
dure, the structural walls were con-
structed at ground level in three
lifts. A cutting shoe displaced the
soil into the excavation below the
walls of the caisson. Internal brac-
ing ensured stability during excava-
tion of the center of the scale pit and
alternative method had to be found

I
born, Michigan, needed to build
a 122x46-foot holding pit for its
mill scale. Un f o rt u n a t e l y, the
soil at the site was found to be ex-
tremely soft and silty clay. Since the
soil wasnt stable, an unbraced ex-
cavation would be dangerous. An
to excavate the site.
One alternative involved building
a cofferdam with internally braced
steel sheet piles, but it would have
been expensive and time consum-
ing. Using a sinking caisson (Figure
1), howe ve r, saved 9 weeks of con-
p re vented wall cracking during the
sinking process (Figure 2). The sink-
ing caisson also provided for unob-
structed excavation and wall con-
struction because of the minimal
internal bracing as compared to a
heavily braced cofferdam.
The soil within the center of the
Figure 1.
A) Excavating in soft soils is dangerous because of the possibility of a slope failure or a floor heave.
B) Use sheet piles to prevent soil failures that occur in unbraced excavations. Drive the sheet piles, excavate, and brace in
increments until reaching the desired depth. The structure can now be placed within the confines of the braced
excavation.
C) The sinking caisson method avoids the difficulty of construction inside a braced excavation by acting as both temporary
bracing and final structure. Controlled excavation reduces the drag force on the interior walls, allowing the caisson to
sink under its own weight. After each sinking operation, a new wall is poured. Excavation, sinking and concrete pouring
continue until the caisson reaches the desired depth.

Figure 2. Internal bracing prevented

wall cracking during the sinking
process and ensured stability while
the center of the scale pit was
excavated.

Figure 3. The final positioning of the

caisson was accomplished by using
eight landing haunches that settled to
rest on 200-ton piles driven to the
required elevation.
s t ru c t u re was excavated in lifts to
p re vent floor heave and control
caisson settlement. The consulting
engineer recommended leaving at
least 8 feet of soil above the base of
the caisson at all times. Co n c re t e
caisson walls were built 6 feet thick,
providing sufficient weight to coun-
teract the drag forces. In addition, a
water jet system built into the cais-
son walls lubricated the outside of
the caisson during sinking.
To stop the caisson at the desired
depth, eight 200-ton-capacity piles
were driven around the perimeter of
the caisson. Landing haunches on
the sides of the caisson were de-
signed to bear on the piles (Figure
3). Once the caisson landed, ce-
ment-stabilized fly ash was placed
up to the level of the interior base
slab. This greatly improved base sta-
bility and allowed the floor slab to
be placed in a single pour.
The caisson served as both the
temporary and permanent excava-
tion support system, allowing the
actual scale pit structure to be built
without the use of a separate tem-
p o ra ry earth support system. The
caisson eventually became part of
the permanent scale pit walls.
Credits
Owner: Rouge Steel Continuous Slab
Casting Plant, Dearborn,
Michigan
Construction manager: Walbridge
Aldinger, Livonia, Michigan
Soil investigation: Neyer, Tiseo & Hin-
do, Ltd., Farmington Hills, Michigan
PUBLICATION#C880107
Copyright 1988, The Aberdeen Group
All rights reserved