3.

Excavation and retaining structure

The excavation depth for the foundation level of the administrative building was about 5 m, two equipments were used which are excavator and loader. The first step was marking the excavation area and that was done by a surveyor using a total station. The excavator used was a hydraulic excavator (backhoe), the excavator achieved its work by choosing a suitable standing position and then it began digging in the soil of the excavation area by pulling the dipper back toward the machine and when it was loaded with excavated soil, the excavator boom was raised and the excavator body rotated while maintaining the track in its position to load the trucks if they are available or to collect excavated soil in one place to be loaded to the trucks using a loader. After excavating to a depth of 2m, the excavator changed its position and began digging again to a depth of 2m in its new position, and that was repeated until all the area was excavated to this level. After that the excavator changed its position and stand at the new excavated level which is 2m lower than the first standing position, then the excavation was completed to the required level as mentioned before. Figure 1 shows the process of excavation using an excavator. A loader was used to load the trucks with the excavated soil that was collected by the excavator, it also made a ramp to the excavated area and assisted the excavator in the excavation process, it was also used for grading and leveling. Three offroad dump trucks were used to transport the excavated materials from the site to the dump area which was 10 km away from the site. Figure 1

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One side of the excavation required a retaining structure, so the area surrounded this side was not excavated until the retaining structure was installed.

Retaining structure
Bored piles were used to support the excavation side and prevent it from failure, the pile length was 10m, its diameter was 0.6m, and its reinforcement was 8 25 for the main reinforcement and the stirrups were 7 8 /m. The steps of forming these piles are as follows: 1. Site preparation and delivering equipments to site. 2. Marking out the position of piles, 10 cm was left between each pile and the adjacent pile. 3. Preparation and formation of the steel cage (the pile reinforcement). 4. A special machine was used in drilling, it pushed a casing down to a depth of 2m and it removed the soil within the casing, then it completed pushing the casing to the next 2m and removing the soil within the casing, this process continued until reaching the required depth. 5. Installation of the steel cage in the borehole. 6. Concrete was poured in the borehole to form the bored pile. 7. Casing was removed. 8. The next pile that was bored was not the adjacent pile to the finished pile but it was the one next to it, the piles were casted in a sequence as shown in figure 2 where the number written on each pile represents the order of casting this pile. 9. A 0.6m x 0.6m beam was casted on the top of the piles to connect them together, the reinforcement of this beam was 6 16 in the top and in the bottom. 10. The excavation process was then completed safely in this area. Figure 2

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