This is a Joint Industry Project (JIP). The objective was to describe the changes in soil stresses and pore water pressures during caisson installation and set-up. Also, the project sought to establish how caisson geometry, cell configuration, and load duration affects caisson.
Complete. This work focused on the caisson behavior during installation by underbase suction and on the axial load response of single caisson cells in clay for short-term (undrained) pullout and sustained tensile loading conditions. The validation of analytical predictions was supported by a program of experimental measurements in the Caisson Element Test (CET) cell. The CET was designed and proof tested as part of this program. The CET experiments use a miniature two-piece model caisson (2.54 cm radius) installed in a homogeneous specimen of normally consolidated Boston Blue Clay. Fourteen experiments were conducted and detailed data collected regarding measurements of cap and wall forces and displacements, pore pressures and ground deformations during caisson installation, equilibration, monotonic pullout testing and sustained tensile loading.