Skin friction in caissons

Air-locks : The number of air-locks required in a caisson depends on the number of men employed in any
one working chamber in the caisson. The size of the air-locks and air- shafts is governed largely by the quantity of material to be excavated, i.e., by the size of the 'muck bucket'.

For excavating in hard material, One man can be effectively employed in about 3 m 2 of working area of a caisson, but in loose material such as sand or gravel one man may be allowed in 6 to 7 m 2 area. Generally, the number of men in a caisson per shaft will range from 5 to 10 except in the smallest caissons. The optimum number is 10 men per shaft. Sufficient air-locks should be provided to allow the whole shaft to pass out of the caisson in reasonable time. This depends on the working pressure. For moderate pressures (under 2.5 kg/cm 2), an air-lock should be provided for every 90-100 ni2 of base area. For high pressures two locks would be considered for 90-100 M 2 of base area, because of the longer time required in 'locking' each shaft in and out of the caisson. The size of the lock is governed by the rate of excavation and the number of men to be accommodated. Thus the main chamber (or muck lock) has to accommodate a skip of sufficient size to pass through it the excavated. material at the programmed rate. For example, with a base area of about 90 m 2 per lock, a large airlock can deal with about 9 FT1 3 of spoil per hour; for continuous shift working at say 10 kg/crn 2, 180 m3 of material would be passed through in 20 hours of 'effective' working. This gives about 100 m 3 of material 'in the solid' or 1.14 m of sinking per effective 3-shift day, With a smaller air-lock under similar conditions the output would be about 6 m 3 /11 or 120 M. 3 of material in 20 effective hours, corresponding to a sinking rate of about 0.70 m per effective 3- shift day. The. plant for the production and supply of compressed air to the working chamber shall deliver a supply sufficient to provide at the

pressure in the chamber 0,30 m 3 of fresh air per minute per person for the time being in the chamber. ES CP 2004 recommends that whenever work involving compressed air at pressures greater than 1 kg/cm 2 above atmospheric pressure is undertaken, the Medical Research Council's Decompression Sickness Panel should be consulted for advice on decompression rates.

If the air supplied in accordance with the above rule is more than the amount lost under the cutting edge and through the air-locks, the surplus should be exhausted from the caisson through a control valve. Compressors for air supply are usually stationary types. Ideally, they should be driven by variable speed motors to enable the supply to be progressively increased as the caisson sinks deeper. The type of plant in general use is a twin-cylinder single stage piston compressor of 8.5 m3/min capacity motor-driven through a vee belt. Rotary compressors can be used for supplying low-pressure air. At least 50% spare compressor capacity should be provided for emergency purposes. Consideration should be given to alternative means of power supply, for example diesel generators for electrically-driven compressors normally supplied from the mains system, or a standby steam plant. The total available air supply may require to be twice the actual requirement if failure is liable to cause danger to life or property. However, a standby supply need not he provided if the loss of air pressure will not endanger the workmen: for example, if the caisson is being sunk on to a hard stratum which will remain stable, and if workmen have ample time to escape from the working chamber. Air treatment Improved working conditions and greater immunity to caisson sickness is given by treatment of the air supply. The airconditioning plant should aim to remove moisture and oil, and to warm the air for cold weather working, or to cool it for working in hot climates. The need to supply cool dry air is especially important for compressed air work in hot and humid climates.. In cool climates it is advantageous to provide heating in man-locks since the cooling of the air which always takes place during decompression can cause discomfort to the occupants..

Pneumatic Sinking of Caissons

Control of position and verticality of pneumatic-caissons is more readily attainable than with open-well caissons. It is possible to maintain control by careful adjustments of the excavation beneath the cutting edge, and if this is insufficient, raking shores can be used in the working chamber, or the caisson can be moved bodily at early stages of sinking by placing sliding wedges or 'kickers' beneath the cutting edge.

Excavation in the working chamber is usually undertaken by men handshovelling into crane skips, compressed-air Str' uctural Design of Steining In addition to the 'usual design forces for which the caisson must be designed for 'bridge in service' condition, the caisson, during its construction, is likely to be subjected to certain odd loading conditions, the effects of which may not be easily controllable. Some of these are outlined below: (a) The caisson is hung up from near the top by skin friction necking. The lower portion of the caisson is then subjected to tension. Sufficient strength should be provided in the caisson to carry the weight of its ower portion (vague loading condition); (b) The caisson is held on one side only or on two opposite points only over some length. This can lead to vertical cracks and, in the limit, may require refilling the cracked caisson and then sinking a new caisson inside it; (c)The caisson is subjected to unbalanced earth pressures; the caisson has to be pulled into its correct position if it has tilted during construction. Large racking force and earth pressure would be introduced by pulling; and (d)The caisson is 'dropped' suddenly during sinking, sometime owing to massive sand blow, and sometimes due to sudden break in skin friction while

In addition, where the caisson is likely to be sunk the sump is deep. pneumatically,. additional hoop reinforcement may be required in the steining to withstand the bursting ring tension.

Pneumatic sinking of caissons

Some Considerations in the Dimensioning and Design of Wells Some of guidance: the important features are given below for
(i)

The minimum dimension of any dredge hole shall not be less than 2 metres. For plain concrete wells, the mix of concrete inthe steining shall not be leaner than 1 : 3 : 6: For wells located in marine areas or other similar adverse conditions of exposure, the concrete in steining shall not be leaner than 1 : 2 : 4 with cement content not less than 350 kg/m3 of concrete and water- cement ratio not more than 0.45. In the case of plain and reinforced concrete single circular wells, the diameter of wells shall not normally exceed 12 metres. external diameter of brick masonry wells shall not exceed 6 na and such wells shall not be used for depths exceeding 20 m. For brick masonry wells, bricks of highest quality shall be used in cement mortar not leaner than 1 : 3 for steining. with two or more shells of different materials should not be permitted as experience has shown that these develop splitting cracks (differential shrinkage, etc.). The minimum thickness of well steining shall not be less than 500 mm and should satisfy the following relationship: h K d-4 h = minimum thickness of steining in meters. d = external diameter of circular well or dumb-bell shaped well or the smaller dimension in plan of twin 'D' well, in metres.

(ii)

(iii) The

(iv) Steining

(v)

1 = depth of well in metres below LWL or ground level whichever is higher. K = a coefficient, with following values'. Single circular or dumb-bell shaped well in cement concrete K = 0.030 for predominantly sandy strata K 0.033 clayey strata Twin-D well in cement concrete
(vi) K

for

predominantly

= 0.039 for predominantly sandy strata K = 0.043 for predominantly clayey strata Single circular or dumb-bell shaped well in brick masonry

(vii)

(viii)

K = 0.047 for predominantly sandy strata K = 0.052 for predominantly clayey strata Twin-D well in brick masonry K = 0.062 for predominantly sandy strata K = 0.068 for predominantly clayey strata NOTE (a) For bouldery strata or 'for wells resting on rock where blasting . may be involved, higher thickness of swirling, better grade of concrete, heavier reinforcement, use of steel strake plates in the lower portions, etc.,. are advisable. (b) For wells passing through very soft clayey strata, the steining . thickness may be reduced based decision of the engineer-in-charge to prevent the well from sinking by its own weight. In such cases, the steining may require relatively more reinforcement.

Bottom Plugging
The sealing (bottom-p)ugging) concrete in open-wells is placed by trernie pipe or bottom-opening skip to the required thickness and sometimes roughly levelled by -a diver (after which sand is poured in to fill the remaining space in the wells up to the design level).