BRACED CUTS.

General Considerations
Shallow excavations can be made without supporting the surrounding material if there is adequate space to establish slopes at which the material can stand. The steepest slopes that can be used in a given locality are best determined by experience. Many building sites extend to the edges of the property lines. Under these circumstances, the sides of the excavation have to be made vertical and must usually be supported by bracings.

Common methods of bracing the sides when the depth of excavation does not exceed about 3 m are shown in Figs 20.26(a) and (b). The practice is to drive vertical timber planks known as sheeting along the sides of the excavation. The sheeting is held in place by means of horizontal beams called wales that in turn are commonly supported by horizontal struts extending from side to side of the excavation. The struts are usually of timber for widths not exceeding about 2 m. For greater widths metal pipes called trench braces are commonly used.

When the excavation depth exceeds about 5 to 6 m, the use of vertical timber sheeting will become uneconomical. According to one procedure, steel sheet piles are used around the boundary of the excavation. As the soil is removed from the enclosure, wales and struts are inserted. The wales are commonly of steel and the struts may be of steel or wood. The process continues until the excavation is complete. In most types of soil, it may be possible to eliminate sheet piles and to replace them with a series of//piles spaced 1.5 to 2.5 m apart. The //piles, known as soldier piles or soldier beams, are driven with their flanges parallel to the sides of the excavation as shown in Fig. 20.26(b). As the soil next to the piles is removed horizontal boards known as lagging are introduced as shown in the figure and are wedged against the soil outside the cut. As the general depth of excavation advances from one level to another, wales and struts are inserted in the same manner as for steel sheeting.

If the width of a deep excavation is too great to permit economical use of struts across the entire excavation, tiebacks are often used as an alternative to cross-bracings as shown in Fig. 20.26(c). Inclined holes are drilled into the soil outside the sheeting or H piles. Tensile reinforcement is then inserted and concreted into the hole. Each tieback is usually prestressed before the depth of excavation is increased.

Figure 20.26 Cross sections, through typical bracing in deep excavation, (a) sides
retained by steel sheet piles, (b) sides retained by H piles and lagging, (c) one of
several tieback systems for supporting vertical sides of open cut. several sets of
anchors may be used, at different elevations (Peck, 1969)