Geotechnical aspects of locating the Łagiewnicka Route on the area of the “White Seas” in Kraków

Abstract

The article presents the results of field studies and laboratory tests of the subsoil of the section of the "Łagiewnicka" route located on the area of so-called "White Seas" [1] in Kraków-Łagiewniki. The analysed samples come from the layer of anthropogenic soils being the result of the operation of the Solvay Sodium Plant in the 20 th century. The results of the geotechnical and land-surveying studies served as the basis for developing a numerical model to determine the pressure on the walls of the planned tunnel and the horizontal thrust in the planned excavation. Besides, the study and test results were used to perform an analysis of the excavation's stability and to check the impact of the sheet pile on land deformations near the John Paul II Centre in Kraków.

S-wave velocity in samples of calcareous waste

“…In recent years, numerous geotechnical studies have been carried out in the area of the factory Solvay Sodium Plant in Krakow (which is currently closed) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. The factory produced sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) since 1906.…”

“…Due to the lack of data related to the deformation parameters of calcareous waste from the Solvay Sodium Plant in Krakow, the Soil -Structure Interaction Division, Cracow University of Technology, conducted research to determine the dynamic shear modulus G of the subsoil samples from the area of "White Seas" [6,7]. Only dynamic shear modulus G was analysed because properties of samples caused difficulties in determining of the first arrivals of P-wave.…”