Diaphragm Walls

Technologies

The DW (Diaphragm Walls) are walls built in the underground starting from the surface. The excavating system consists of a clamshell bucket (grab) with the same thickness of the wall to be built. The excavation is carried out with primary and secondary panels, with bentonite or polymeric slurry. The panels are reinforced with prefabricated steel cages. Before the cage lowering, the slurry into the trench has to be treated and cleaned. The wall can be used as excavation support, foundation element or as containment structure for the flow of underground water.

Advantages

• Diaphragm walls tend to be used for retaining very deep excavations as they can be designed to take very high structural loads.
• The water tight walls formed can be used as permanent structural walls. 
• Reduced number of joints in the wall which ultimately improves the walls water tightness.
• Work may be carried out right against existing structures and the line of wall may be adjusted to any shape in plan.
• Diaphragm wall construction is relatively quiet, and minimum noise and vibration levels make it suitable for construction in urban areas.

Technical data

Panel thickness: 350 to 1200 mm
Panel width: 2000 to 4200 mm
Panel depth: 10-75 m depending by crawler crane and grab type.