ABSTRACT
Much underground space is constructed each year for use as car parks and shops in basements of buildings and as mass rapid transit stations, depressed roadways, and civil defense shelters. Many cities are located in coastal areas where the ground is level and the elevations are low, with an attendant high groundwater table. This paper discusses the various methods of providing resistance against hydrostatic uplift. These include the use of tension piles and the installation of a water pressure relief system below the base slab of the basement structure. A case history in Singapore employing pressure relief system below a 3–level basement is presented.
