
A slurry wall is a
civil engineering technique used to build
reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...
walls in areas of soft earth close to open water, or with a high
groundwater table.
[
] This technique is typically used to build diaphragm (water-blocking) walls surrounding
tunnels and open cuts, and to lay
foundations
Foundation may refer to:
* Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization
** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S.
** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
.
Construction

While a trench is being excavated to create a form for a wall, it is simultaneously filled with
slurry
A slurry is a mixture of denser solids suspended in liquid, usually water. The most common use of slurry is as a means of transporting solids or separating minerals, the liquid being a carrier that is pumped on a device such as a centrifugal pu ...
(usually a mixture of
bentonite and water). The dense but liquid slurry prevents the trench from collapsing by providing outward pressure, which balances the inward hydraulic forces and also retards water flow into the trench. The density of the slurry mix must be carefully monitored and adjusted to produce the correct outward pressure to prevent the trench walls from collapsing.
Slurry walls are typically constructed by starting with a set of concrete guide walls, typically deep and thick. The guide walls are constructed near the ground surface to outline the desired slurry trench, and to guide the excavation machinery. Excavation is done using a special clamshell-shaped
digger or a
hydromill trench cutter
The hydromill trench cutter is a type of construction equipment designed to dig the narrow but deep trenches used in the casting of slurry walls. Typically, it is a cutter attachment mounted on a crawler crane base machine, with different types of ...
, suspended from a crane. The excavator digs down to design depth (or bedrock) for the first wall segment. The excavator is then lifted and moved along the trench guide walls to continue the trench with successive cuts as needed. The trench is at all times kept filled with slurry to prevent its collapse, but the liquid filling allows the excavation machinery and excavation spoil to be moved without hindrance.
Once a particular length of trench is reached, a
reinforcing cage is lowered into the slurry-filled pit and the pit is filled with
concrete from the bottom up using
tremie pipes. The heavier concrete displaces the bentonite slurry, which is pumped out, filtered, and stored in tanks for use in the next wall segment, or it is recycled.
Slurry walls are successively extended to enclose an area, blocking water and softened earth from flowing into it. Once the concrete has hardened, excavation within the now concrete-wall-enclosed area can proceed. To prevent the concrete wall from collapsing into the newly excavated area, temporary supports such as
tiebacks or internal crossbeams are installed. When completed, the structure built within the walled-off area supports the wall, so that tiebacks or other temporary bracing may be optionally removed.
History
The slurry wall technique was first introduced in the
1950s
The 1950s (pronounced nineteen-fifties; commonly abbreviated as the "Fifties" or the " '50s") (among other variants) was a decade that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959.
Throughout the decade, the world continued its re ...
during the excavations of the
Red Line of the
Milan Metro in
Italy by the company ICOS (Impresa Costruzioni Opere Specializzate). This new technology became an important component of the top-down tunnelling method also known as ''Metodo Milano'' ("Milan method").
Slurry wall construction was used to construct the
"bathtub" that surrounded the foundations of most of the
World Trade Center site in New York City. In the 1980s, the
Red Line Northwest Extension project in Boston was one of the first projects in the US to use the modern form of the technology, with hydromill trench cutters and the "Milan method". Slurry walls were also used extensively in Boston's later
Big Dig tunnel project.
Design
The design of a slurry wall (diaphragm wall) includes the design of wall thickness and reinforcements. Thickness of a slurry wall in preliminary design is generally set to about 4-8% of the excavation depth. Slurry wall design is undertaken based on
bending moment and
shear envelope obtained from the
stress analysis. In the design of such underground walls, width of the unit is considered as one meter, and the wall is analyzed under
plane strain condition. Since the length-to-width ratio of excavations is generally large, plane strain conditions can be assumed.
In a single-phase diaphragm wall, also known as a "cut-off wall", a binder (usually cement) is added to the supporting fluid so that the supporting fluid hardens without exchange.
One application for this type of construction is a
landfill
A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...
seal that is to be retrofitted later.
See also
*
Retaining wall
*
Building of the World Trade Center
*
Grout curtain
References
External links
Slurry Wall Construction by Diaphragm MachineVideo Overview of Slurry Wall ConstructionA technical resource for slurry wall construction, slurry trenches and cut-off walls*
ttp://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=5539&page=133 Barrier technologies for environmental managementbr>
Pictures of slurry walls«"Lakhta Center". Diaphragm wall»
{{Authority control
Geotechnical shoring structures
Types of wall