Behavior of Lateral Earth Pressure around the Underpass Constructed by the STS Construction Method

Recently developed trenchless construction methods ensure stability for the ground settlement by inserting steel pipes along the underpass section and integrating steel pipes before ground excavation to form pipe-roof. This study is to confirm the reinforcing effect of pipe-roof by measuring lateral earth pressure acting on the underpass constructed by the STS (Steel Tube Slab) construction method. For this purpose, lateral earth pressure was measured at the left and right side of the pipe-roof after installing earth pressure cells. As a result, lateral earth pressure was measured with considerable reduction because the integrated pipe-roof shared surcharge. Therefore, economic design for the underpass could be expected by sharing design load by pipe-roof. In addition, construction cost was analyzed according to the design-load sharing ratio by pipe-roof. As pipe-roof shares design load by 40%, the total construction cost can decrease by almost 10% in the case of four-lane underpass.