Objective As a new type of diaphragm wall foundation, a strip-shaped underground diaphragm wall can be utilized to solve the problem that traditional diaphragm wall structures cannot meet the high safety and stability standards of underground structures in specific engineering environments. However, few studies examine the bearing capacity of this new structure. This study studies the vertical and horizontal bearing capacity of strip-shaped underground diaphragm walls and proposes a simplified calculation formula for the bearing capacity of the foundation. Methods The internal force distribution law of the wall body, and the variation law of the reduction coefficient of the group wall effect, a total of 30 groups of model tests were conducted to investigate the variation law of the foundation load-bearing performance. Firstly, considering the influencing factors of wall spacing and wall height, nine plexiglass models with different section sizes were designed to conduct two groups of indoor model tests. The first group involved vertical load, and the second group involved horizontal load. The horizontal load included model tests of horizontal load along the wall and horizontal load perpendicular to the wall to study the variation law of the bearing performance of the foundation, the internal force distribution law of the wall, the wall-side friction resistance, and the soil reaction of the cap. The thickness of the plexiglass wall was 10 mm, and the elastic modulus of the plexiglass measured by the test was approximately 2.2 GPa. Five strain gauges were arranged in the test at equal spacing on both sides of each wall to measure the changes in internal force in the wall under load. At the same time, earth pressure cells were arranged in the center area and the edge area of the surface under the bearing and at the center of the bottom surface of the three walls. This research test was conducted in a 1 m× 1 m× 1 m model box, and standard sand was filled in layers at a height of 20 cm. The center of the strip-shaped underground diaphragm wall overlapped with the center of the model box, and the lower surface of the cap was flush with the sand surface. In addition, to consider the interaction among multiple walls, loading tests of the monolithic wall model under three different loading directions were conducted. The effect coefficients of the three walls with bearing caps under vertical load were investigated by comparing the load values of a single wall and a three-wall group under 3 mm settlement. The load value corresponding to the 11 mm displacement of a single wall and the 11 mm horizontal displacement of a group wall were compared and analyzed to study the effect coefficient of the horizontal group wall, and the fitting formulas were obtained. Finally, based on the group wall effect coefficient, a simplified calculation method for the horizontal bearing capacity of the strip foundation was proposed. Results and Discussions From the first test group, the results showed that increasing the wall spacing and buried depth improved the overall flexural stiffness and bearing performance of the foundation. Under vertical load, the load‒displacement curve was consistent. When a 2 mm displacement occurred, the buried depth of the wall increased from 15 to 18 cm, the corresponding vertical load increased from 275.480 to 315.266 N, and the vertical bearing performance increased by 14%. The optimal spacing for the bearing capacity of the ground wall was 11 cm. The increase in the buried depth of the wall had no obvious effect on the load-sharing ratio of the wall end resistance and the soil reaction of the cap, but the proportion of the wall friction resistance increased from 0.55 to 0.70. No significant change occurred with the increase in wall spacing. The resistance-sharing ratio at the wall end slowly decreased from 0.35 to 0.20, and the soil reaction-sharing ratio of the cap slowly increased from 0.13. The soil reaction of the cap was the largest at the center of the cap and the smallest at the edge. From the second test group, with the increase in horizontal load, the total displacement rose rapidly at the initial stage and then slowed when the load exceeded 50 N. The optimal spacing for the bearing capacity of the ground wall was 11 cm. When the wall spacing was 10 cm, and the wall heights were 15.0, 16.5, and 18.0 cm, under the same displacement of 6 mm, the loads perpendicular to the wall were 204.4, 213.0, and 211.4 N, respectively, and the loads along the wall were 158.7, 175.3, and 196.8 N, respectively. The results showed that, when the same displacement occurred, the horizontal load perpendicular to the wall was 10% higher than the horizontal load along the wall. Based on the above two groups of tests and the comparison of single-wall bearing capacity, when the buried depth of the wall increased from 15.0 to 16.5 cm and 18.0 cm, the vertical group wall effect coefficient α of the foundation decreased from 0.79 to 0.63 and 0.43, and the horizontal group wall effect coefficient β of the foundation decreased from 1.38 to 1.09. When the wall spacing increased from 10 to 12 cm, α increased from 0.43 to 0.45, and β increased from 1.09 to 1.16. The results showed that the group wall effect coefficients decreased with the increase in height and increased with the increase in wall spacing. α was less than 1, and β was greater than 1. The group wall effect coefficient showed that the horizontal bearing capacity of the wall was better exerted with the increase in wall height and wall spacing. Based on the rule of the group wall effect coefficient, simplified formulas for calculating the vertical and horizontal bearing capacities of the foundation were proposed. Conclusions This study proposes a new type of strip wall foundation that can effectively resist soil pressure and superstructure loads. It has significant horizontal bearing capacity and provides good economic benefits. This study provides experimental support and a design reference for research on a new type of strip-shaped underground diaphragm wall foundation.
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