ABSTRACT
Deep excavations are often built utilising a conventional braced excavation system that includes steel struts, walers, king posts, and runner beams. When used for a project site with a significantly wide excavation, traditional braced excavation may not be economical and can create a limited working area that hinders the construction of permanent structures. In order to address this limitation, the present study introduces a novel Post-Tensioned Waler system (PWS) as an alternative to conventional strut and waler excavation systems. The proposed system improves the walers flexural stiffness by incorporating prestressing elements into trussed waler. This enables greater spacing between struts, a larger work area, and increased productivity. This study discusses the principles, load transfer mechanisms, and modelling procedures of the PWS system, and presents the advantages of using the PWS system over conventional strutting systems.
