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HomeTechniquesRetaining-wallsVertical shores & GalleriesVertical Shores

Vertical Shores

A vertical shore is a trench of between 0.90 m and 2.00 m in width, excavated by hand and lined as it progresses, to ensure the safety of the workers carrying out the earthworks and to avoid decompression of the ground in the vicinity. The excavation is carried out in successive sections, generally limited to a length of 6.10 m. Once all the plots have been excavated, reinforced and concreted, the shored excavation forms a continuous reinforced concrete wall that can be used as a support or foundation.

Construction sequence

  1. Manual digging of an excavation along the width and length of the plot to be built to a limited height (generally 90 cm). The earth is loaded manually by the workers and removed from the excavation by means of a cuffat handled by an electric winch.

  2. The ground is carefully cut on all 4 sides in line with the future shoring, using a shovel and trowel.

  3. Prefabricated concrete shoring slabs and expendable metal braces are laid over the excavation height just excavated.

    Repeat the above steps until the desired excavation depth is reached.

  4. This is followed by installation of the required reinforcement in the lining and concreting of the lining. A mechanical connection and/or sealing devices can be provided between the different lining blocks making up the wall.

Fields of application

  • This technique can be applied to all types of soil as long as they are dry or flattened;

  • Little risk for buried installations, since you can see what you're doing;

  • Very small site footprint, with working clearance of around 2.40 m;

  • Possibility of excavating complex and irregular geometries, as well as excavations of restricted dimensions;

  • No heavy machinery is required, so the method can be used in difficult-to-access locations or near sensitive elements (railroad tracks in service, factories in operation, etc.).

Environmental impact

  • No vibration ;

  • Soil extraction necessary ;

  • Limited noise production ;

  • Stable, dry and flat work platform is required, however the platform can be small and possibly difficult to access.