Existing risks in deep foundation excavation projects is a major issue in developing cities. With the rapid in-crease in the number of various deep foundation and excavation projects in big cities of Iran, many accidents related to deep excavation have been reported every year. These accidents affected delay and increased cost of project implemen-tation. Therefore identification and assessment of risks of these accidents is essential. The aim of the research was to develop a framework to overcome limitations of previous approaches to assess of risks in excavation projects. According to the complexity of a problem and the inherent uncertainty, the framework adopted SWARA (Step-wise Weight As-sessment Ratio Analysis) and COPRAS (COmplex PRoportional ASsessment) methods through introducing new criteria for risk assessment. Data was collected through interview, a literature review and a questionnaire survey distributed to excavation project experts. A case study of deep foundation excavation in Shiraz was presented. The results have shown that the risks involving construction safety, unfavourable geological conditions, shortage of managerial experience, in-complete emergency plan and subsidence of ground are the most significant risks excavation projects in Shiraz. The proposed framework and the obtained results can help stakeholders of excavation projects in developing countries better to manage project risks.

Risk assessment is one of the most important factors in achieving success in public-private partnership (PPP) projects. Some relationships between risks in freeway projects have been established. The occurrence of each risk can worsen the effects of others such as a negative impact of financial risks on construction risks. This paper is aimed at prioritizing significant risks in freeway PPP projects applying a fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) method for overcoming the problems of interdependencies and feedback among different risk-ranking alternatives. Data on the study have been collected through a literature review, an interview and a questionnaire survey distributed to experts in the field of freeway PPP projects. The obtained results have shown that financial, legal and political risks are the most significant groups, although improper design, changes in the value of granted lands and the termination of concession are the most important risks. The findings help with strengthening the capabilities of developing countries for risk management in freeway PPP projects.

This article reports on a series of small-scale, plane strain, 1 g physical model tests designed to investigate the bearing capacity and failure mechanics of end-bearing soil-cement columns formed via Deep Mixing (DM). Pre-formed soil-cement columns, 24 mm in diameter and 200 mm in length, were installed in a soft clay bed using a replacement method; the columns represented improvement area ratios, a_p, of 17%, 26%, and 35% beneath a rigid foundation of width 100 mm. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was implemented in conjunction with close-range photogrammetry in order to track soil displacement during loading, from which the failure mechanisms were derived. Bearing capacity performance was verified using Ultimate Limit State numerical analysis, with the results comparing favorably to the analytical static and kinematic solutions proposed by previous researchers. A new equation for bearing capacity was derived from this numerical analysis based on the improvement area ratio and cohesion ratio of the soil column and ground model.