Preface

Excavation is an essential segment of foundation engineering，for example，in the construction of the foundations or basements of high rise buildings，underground oil tanks，subways or mass rapid transit systems，etc.Though books on general foundation engineering introduce the basic analysis and design of excavations，they are usually too general to cope with the engineering practice.With economic development and urbanization，excavation goes deeper and larger in scale，sometimes it is carried out in difficult soils or complicated built environment.These conditions require advanced analysis，design methods and construction technologies.

The main author has focused on the studies of soil behavior and deep braced excavation problems since working as research fellow in Nanyang Technological University，and has published many reputable journal and conference papers concerning this subject.After joining Chongqing University in 2016，Prof Zhang lectured the postgraduate course“Excavation and Retaining Systems”in English to master students from overseas（the photo below）.This textbook is mainly based on the lecture notes as well as the scientific journal papers published recently.

This textbook is aimed at both theoretical explication and practical application from fundamentals to advanced technologies，trying to attain theoretical rigorousness and consistency.Besides，this textbook，including the best methods currently used in engineering practice，also tries to cope with the problems in designing.Therefore，it can be readily used for analysis and design in excavation practice.

School of Civil Engineering，Chongqing University，China

Wengang Zhang