Timbering to Excavations 2015

Excavations and Timbering

 When earth has been excavated to a considerable depth the vertical faces of
the excavations need supporting by means of timber, to prevent the soil from
falling in and injuring the workmen or the work upon which they are engaged.
 The strength of the timbering used for this purpose necessarily depends upon
the nature of the soil, the depth of the excavations, and the length of time it is
likely to be kept open.

Excavation in Firm Soil

 The figure bellow shows the method of timbering a trench in firm ground.
 about 3 feet long, Politics or Poling Boards, are placed in pairs opposite one
another against either side of the trench, and are held in position by means
of struts.
 These struts, which are usually short lengths of 4 inches diameter scaffold
poles, or 4 by 4-inch squared timbers, and cut about £ inch longer than the
clear distance between a pair of poling boards, are fixed in position in the
following manner:
 One end of the strut is placed against the middle of one poling board, and
the other end is swung vertically downwards against the opposite poling
board, and forced tightly against it by means of a few downward taps with a
mallet.

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 The struts should not be closer together than 6 feet, otherwise they will
prove a considerable inconvenience to the workmen in the trenches.

Excavations in Loose Soil

 Should the looseness of the soil necessitate supports being fixed at closer
intervals than 6 feet the system of timbering shown below should be used.
 In this case it will be noted that the poling boards are supported by long
horizontal members about 6 by 4 inches, called Walings or Waling Pieces,
which in turn are supported by struts at intervals of 6 feet.

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 A short length of trench is excavated, and a pair of poling boards are placed
against its sides, and strutted with a temporary strut placed about 6 inches
above the centre of the poling board.
 A little more of the trench is excavated, and the next pair of poling boards
inserted.
 This process is continued until the trench is long enough to receive the
waling pieces, which are held in position until the struts are inserted.
 The temporary struts are now knocked away, and one length of timbering is
complete.
 If the trenches are deep the timbering is inserted in tiers until the required
depth is reached.
 The struts are placed vertically under one another, and at a distance of
about 6 feet apart, so that stages may be supported upon them for the
disposition of the excavated soil - 6 feet being the limit of depth from
which an excavator can comfortably throw soil out of a trench.
 When poling boards longer than 3 feet are used they should be supported by
two rows of walings and struts,
 One row being placed near the top end of the poling pieces and one row at
the bottom.
 The waling piece overlaps the end of the poling board by half its width.

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 The upper ends of the poling boards of the next tier of timbering are
inserted behind the lower waling pieces of the first tier.

Excavations in Bad Soil

 When the ground is so bad that it will not stand to a vertical surface while the
poling boards are inserted, the system of timbering shown below is generally
used.
 The trench is excavated to the desired width, and to a depth of about 9
inches.
 Two 9 by 1 1/2-inch boards - which when used for this purpose are called
Sheetings - are placed against the sides of the excavation and strutted apart
with temporary struts.
 Another layer of soil or "spit" is excavated and another piece of sheeting
inserted, with its edges placed as closely as possible to the edges of the first
pair of sheetings.
 This process is continued until four or five boards have been inserted.
 Then pairs of poling boards are placed vertically, and strutted against them,
after which the temporary struts are knocked away.
 This whole operation may be repeated until the desired depth has been
reached.

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 In shallow trenches the sides are battered or sloped to prevent the

timbering from collapsing when the soil behind the sheeting sinks - as it
frequently does owing to the water being withdrawn by gravitating to the
bottom of the trench.
 Another advantage of a battered trench is that when narrow concrete
foundations are to be placed therein it can be kept at the bottom to the
calculated width of the concrete, the batter giving ample room for the men
to work.
 Excavations in very Soft or Water-Logged Soil require to be heavily
timbered to resist the considerable lateral pressure of the soil.
 The usual method of timbering excavations in such soils is as follows:

 Guide piles or Guide Runners, 9 by 9 inches, - as they are called when

used for timbering excavations, - are driven into the ground at
intervals of about 10 feet on either side of the piece of ground it is
desired to excavate.
 Stout waling pieces are bolted to these guide runners, and sheet piles,
9 by 2 inches to 11 by 3 inches, and about 10 feet long, called Runners,

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are driven a short distance into the ground behind the waling pieces to
form a continuous wall between the guide runners.
 The soil is now excavated between the two rows of runners, care
being taken not to excavate within a foot of the bottom of the
runners.
 The runners are now driven a farther distance and another layer of
soil is excavated.
 This process is continued until the heads of the runners are driven
flush with the ground, struts being placed at frequent intervals to
prevent them bulging inwards.
 If an excavation deeper than one set of piles be required, another
set of piles is driven within the first.
 if the excavation is very wide, vertical pieces are inserted between
the wales; and to prevent the horizontal struts from bending under
the pressure from the earth, inclined struts, called Rakers, are
inserted between them, as shown below.

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
 These rakers are fixed at one end to cleats immediately under a
horizontal strut, while the other end is fixed to a cleat on top of the
next lower horizontal strut on the opposite side of the excavation.

Excavations to Pier Shafts

 When excavating for a shaft a hole is excavated as deep as possible without
the earth falling in.
 Vertical sheeting from 9 by 1 inch to 9 by 2 1/2 inches, according to the
nature of the soil, is temporally strutted against the faces of the excavation
 Walings running right across the excavation are held in position against two
opposite sides and strutted by means of walings forced between them
against the other two sides.
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 Cleats are fixed to the ends of the first pair of walings, so as to prevent
the other pair of walings from being forced out of position.
 Another layer of earth is now excavated and a second tier of sheeting is
placed with the upper end overlapping the lower end of the first tier.
 a second row of walings is inserted to secure both tiers together, and
uprights are placed tightly between the walings at the corners of the shaft.
 When the shaft is of considerable depth the timbering is prevented from
sliding down the shaft by making one pair of walings to project well beyond
the shaft at the top and to rest upon the surface of the ground, as shown
below.

plan

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 A timber being notched over all the walings to act as a tie.

 Excavations to shafts should never be less than 4 feet square, as a man
cannot work in a less space than this.
 The above system of timbering may be used for shafts up to about 10 feet
square.
 If shafts larger than the above have to be sunk, the sheeting and waling
pieces are inserted as explained above and two struts are placed at right
angles to one another across the centre of the shaft.
 One of these struts being in one piece and the other in two pieces.
 the ends of the latter being supported at one end by small pieces of timber
placed between the side walings and the uprights, and at the other end by
similar small pieces of timber placed between the central struts and
uprights, as shown below

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Det A det B

Excavating Tunnels
 It is sometimes far more economical to cut tunnels for such work as drain
laying than to excavate very deep trenches.
 These tunnels may be of any size; but they are usually just large enough to
enable one man to work, i.e. not less than 4 feet square.
 The method of excavating' a tunnel is as follows:

 If the soil is good, sections from 2 to 3 feet long are dug out.
 poling boards are then temporarily-fixed round the opening.
 a head-piece held in position, and finally strutted by means of upright
struts, as shown below

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 These latter being kept in position by spiking them to the head or by

having cleats fixed to the head.
 Another length of tunnel is excavated and another series of poling
pieces is inserted with the ends overlapping the first series of poling
pieces, and another frame composed of head and struts is fixed
against these overlapping ends.

Failure of Timbering
 Serious accidents happen from time to time owing to the failure of
timbering in excavations.
 This failure is usually due to one of the following two reasons:

1. The struts fail under the pressure of the earth;

 This is perhaps the most frequent cause of failure, as the pressure from
soils is often underestimated, particularly that of clay soils, which
sometimes swell with enormous force when exposed to the atmosphere.
 When excavations are made in soft soil in the vicinity of heavy buildings the
lateral pressure of the soil is usually very great.
 To prevent such failures the timber should be of ample size, and should be
examined before being inserted in the excavations.

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 all faulty pieces should be rejected;

 in very deep trenches the struts in the lower parts of the trenches should
be larger than those near the surface.

2. The struts drop out by the shrinkage of the soil.

 To prevent struts dropping out of place they should be examined from time
to time and tightened when necessary.
 a better way is to spike them to the walings or to fix cleats underneath
them.
 The struts supporting stages should always be spiked or fixed in some way,
as they are very likely to become loosened by the weight and motion of the
excavator, who stands upon them to work.

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