The spiral assembly steel structure, a newly developed retaining wall for the rapid excavation of small-sized foundation pits in unsaturated soil, is presented. This new type of retaining structure is prefabricated in the factory and is assembled on site in the excavation of a pit. This retaining structure is composed of several prefabricated steel structural units, in which the adjacent steel structural units are joined with connectors. Each steel structural unit has one steel pipe in the radial direction and is welded to a single piece of steel plate. After full installation in situ, the retaining structure becomes a cylindrical steel structure. With the protection afforded by this new type of retaining structure, excavation work can be completed within 24 h to a depth up to 5 m. In order to verify the reliability and effectiveness of this new retaining structure, field construction tests were conducted in Beijing, China. The test construction was monitored. The monitoring program included measuring stress in the structure, lateral earth pressure, and lateral deformation of the surrounding soil. The monitoring data from the field test were compared with the theoretical results. The results show that the proposed new structure is reliable and effective.
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