ABSTRACT
Shanghai is the largest city in China with a population of about 20 million. It is also the financial and commercial center of this country. It has become one of the most energetic municipalities in the world. With the rapid economic growth in the past two decades, the city has achieved drastic economic and social reforms with construction industry playing an important role. A large number of high-rise buildings, subway transportation networks and other underground structures have been built in Shanghai during the past two decades. Figure 1 shows a bird view of a corner of the city
2 GEOLOGICAL AND GEOTECHNICAL CONDITIONS
Shanghai is washed by the East China Sea on the east and Hangzhou Bay on the south. North of the city, the Yangtze River pours into the East China Sea. The ‘shallow soils’, from ground surface to a depth of about 135 m, were deposited during the Quaternary period (SCMC, 1997). These shallow soils have important significance to engineering activities. Figure 3 shows a typical soil profile in Shanghai and the geotechnical parameters of the soil. It should be noted that compressibility modulus Es0.1∼0.2 was obtained by oedometer tests at stresses ranging from 100 kPa to 200 kPa while undrained shear strength su was obtained from in situ vane shear tests.
