2007
Displacement of an apartment building next to a deep excavation in Rotterdam
Déplacements d´un bâtiment d’habitation adjacent à un chantier profond d’excavation à Rotterdam
Hannink G., Oung O.
Engineering Consultancy Division, City of Rotterdam, The Netherlands
ABSTRACT: A new underground car park is being realized near the Rotterdam Central Railway Station. The car park will contain
five stories and will be about 150 m long and 35 m wide. The depth of the underground car park is about 20 m. Tall office buildings
are present at both sides. A 30 m high apartment building is situated perpendicular to the car park, and the distance of this building to
the car park is only 7 m. This building is founded on prefabricated concrete piles with a base level that equals the excavation depth of
the car park. The underground car park is being realized inside a dry building pit surrounded by 40 m deep diaphragm walls.
Predictions, based on calculations with analytical as well as 2D and 3D finite element models, showed that the expected settlements of
the apartment building were acceptable. The measured displacements remained well within the limits that were predicted.
RÉSUMÉ : Près de la gare ferroviaire centrale de Rotterdam, un parking souterrain est encore en construction. Ce parking sera pourvu
de cinq niveaux et aura les dimensions de 150 m de long en 35 m de large. La profondeur de ce parking sera de 20 m. Le long des
côtés du parking en construction se trouve de hauts bâtiments. En particulier, un bâtiment d'environ 30 m de haut est situé à peine a
une distance de 7 m de ce parking et se tient perpendiculairement à celui-ci. Ce bâtiment est fondé sur des pieux en béton préfabriqués
dont la base est au même niveau que celui de l'excavation réalisée pour la construction du parking. Cette excavation est délimitée par
des parois moulées dont la base se trouve à 40 m de profondeur. Les prédictions, basées sur des calculs pour lesquelles des modèles
d'éléments finis bi- et tridimensionnels ont été montés, ont montré que les tassements de ce bâtiment prédits étaient acceptables. Les
déplacements mesurés durant la réalisation de l'excavation sont restés dans les limites des calculs de prédiction.
KEYWORDS: deep excavation, settlement of structures, finite element models, prediction, monitoring.
1 INTRODUCTION
In the centre of Rotterdam, extensive reconstruction works are
executed as part of the overall project Rotterdam Centraal. The
reconstruction comprises of the building of a large Public
Transport Terminal to facilitate passenger transfer between
(inter)national trains including the high-speed train, and local
public transport like trams, buses and underground trains. The
project also includes a new underground metro station, a new
underground parking facility for bicycles, a new traffic tunnel
below a newly created square, and a new underground car park.
The car park will contain five stories and will be about 150
m long and 35 m wide. The depth of the underground car park is
about 20 m. Tall office buildings are present at both sides. A 30
m high apartment building is situated perpendicular to the car
park and the distance of this building to the car park is only 7 m
(see Figure 1).
The apartment building is founded on prefabricated concrete
piles with a base level that equals the excavation depth of the
car park. The underground car park is being realized inside a
dry building pit surrounded by 40 m deep diaphragm walls.
Calculations of the expected settlement of the apartment
building were made in the design stage of the project, and a fall-
back option was thought out in case the settlement would
exceed the criteria.
The apartment building was continuously monitored during
the construction of the parking facility. This paper describes the
expected impact of the construction of the underground car park
on the apartment building, and the results of the monitoring.
The car park is presently in the final stage of construction.
Engineering of the car park Kruisplein, and supervision of
the execution of the project is performed by the Engineering
Consultancy Division of the City of Rotterdam.
Figure 1. The construction of the underground car park Kruisplein
(February 2012). The apartment building is situated in front, at the left
(perpendicular to the car park). Photograph Nick de Jonge – Skeyes
fotografie.
