香港边坡与基坑支护设计主要遵从两本技术文件，一本是《Guide to Retaining Wall Design》（Geoguide 1 by Geotechnical Engineering Office），首次出版于1982年，现行版本是2020版。另一本是《Review of Design Methods for Excavations》（GCO Publication No.1/90），首次出版于1990年。

《Guide to Retaining Wall Design》对其适用范围做出了明确的规定：这本指南涵盖了香港常见的挡土墙类型，包括传统的钢筋混凝土挡墙、重力式挡墙（如框格式挡墙、石笼墙和大体积混凝土墙），以及悬臂式挡土墙。这本指南不是用于全面指导海岸结构设计，也不是用于基坑支挡结构，例如板桩墙。 此处给出的建议也不适用于超出香港先用实践经验的挡土墙。 指南在给出设计建议时采用了具有分项安全系数的极限状态设计方法。（The Geoguide covers the types of retaining walls which are commonplace in Hong Kong, including conventional reinforced concrete walls, gravity walls such as crib walls, gabion walls and mass concrete walls, and cantilevered retaining walls. It does not aim to deal comprehensively with maritime structures nor structures used to support the sides of deep excavations, such as sheet pile walls. The recommendations given herein are also not intended for retaining wall design which is outside existing experience derived from practice in Hong Kong. In giving recommendations on design this Geoguide adopts the limit state method with partial factors of safety.）

《Review of Design Methods for Excavations》则指出其原本并不想成为一本严格意义上的规范，而是对基坑开挖与支护技术的一个综述。其在序言中说：这份文件介绍了香港土力工程控制处在开挖支撑系统设计和基坑周边地面位移预测方面的最新技术审查结果。 虽然该文件无意成为设计指南，但此处提供的信息应有助于在设计开挖支护系统时使用现代方法和知识。 鼓励从业者就本出版物的内容向香港土力工程控制处提出意见。（This document presents the results of a review carried out within the Geotechnical Control Office of the state of the art in the design of excavation support systems, and in the prediction of ground movements around excavations. Whilst the document is not intended to be a design guide, the information given here should facilitate the use of modern methods and knowledge in the design of excavation support systems. Practitioners are encouraged to comment to the Geotechnical Control Office on the contents of this publication.）

《Review of Design Methods for Excavations》共分为12个章节，包括：

1. Introduction （简介）

2. Type of Excavation Support Systems （基坑支护系统的种类）

3. Construction Aspects of Excavation Support Systems （基坑支护系统的是施工考量）

4. Limit State Method of Design （极限状态设计法）

5. An Overview of Analytical Methods （分析方法总述）

6. Cantilevered or Unbraced Walls （悬臂式或无支撑的挡土墙）

7. Strutted or Braced Walls （有对撑或扶壁撑的挡土墙）

8. Tied-Back or Anchored Walls （有锚定或锚杆的挡土墙）

9. Ground Movements around Excavations（基坑周边的地表移动）

10. Review of Local Design Practice（本地设计实践回顾）

11. Geotechnical Control of Excavations in Hong Kong（香港基坑工程的岩土管控）

12. Conclusions and Recommendations（结论与建议）

A review of the state of the art of designing excavation support systems and of predicting ground movements around excavations leads to the following conclusion:

通过对开挖支护系统设计和开挖周围地面移动预测技术的回顾，可以得出以下结论：

(a) Failures of excavation support systems are seldom due to inadequacies in design methods, but rather are caused by poor construction practice (e.g. inadequately planned working procedure and poor structural detailing) and inadequate site supervision. This indicates that current design methods are adequate.

(a) 基坑开挖支护系统的失效很少是由于设计方法不当造成的，而是由于施工实践不当（例如施工程序规划不当和结构细节设计不当）和工地监督不力造成的。 这表明当前的设计方法是合适的。

(b) For the design of excavation support systems and the prediction of movements around excavations in Hong Kong, the recommendations given in Geoguide 1 (GCO, 1982), the Terzaghi & Peck's (1969b) settlement curves respectively, are often employed. The "beam on elastic foundation" approach and the boundary element method are also used.

(b) 在香港，对于开挖支护系统的设计通常是参考Geoguide 1 (GCO, 1982) 中给出的建议；对开挖引起的周围地表移动的预测通常适用太沙基和匹克1967及1969年提出的沉降曲线。“弹性地基梁”方法和边界元法也经常得以使用。

(c) Proper evaluation of water pressure and its effects is of utmost importance in the design of excavation support systems. The Groundwater flow regime can have a significant effect on the water pressures, the earth pressures and the piping and heave potential of the ground. Proper ground investigation is necessary to obtain information on the ground and groundwater conditions for design. The location, size and condition of water-carrying services in the vicinity of the proposed excavation should also be established.

(c) 恰当评估水压及其影响在开挖支护系统的设计中至关重要。 地下水流态会对水压力、土压力以及管涌和隆起产生重大影响。 通过合适的勘察以获得有关岩土体和地下水条件的信息以进行设计是必要的。 开挖邻近区域的输水设施位置、尺寸和状态也应当予以恰当的评估。

(d) Ground movements around excavations can be caused by many factors, some of which cannot be quantified with confidence. Therefore, it is essential that a monitoring system is implemented during construction to check design assumptions and to provide warning to allow precautionary measures to be undertaken where required.

(d) 开挖导致的周围地面移动可能由许多因素引起，其中一些因素无法确定地量化。 因此，在施工期间应用监测系统以检查设计假定并提供警告以允许在需要时采取预防措施是至关重要的。

(e) There are no reported field measurements of strut loads to establish the apparent pressure diagrams for Hong Kong residual soils and saprolites, which may be lower than those of Terzaghi & Peck (1967).

(e) 目前没有经报告的支撑荷载现场测量报告来建立香港残积土和腐泥土的表观土压力分布形态，其可能低于 Terzaghi & Peck（1967）的数据。

(f) Conservative values of coefficient of horizontal subgrade reaction recommended by Terzaghi (1995) are usually employed in the "beam on elastic foundation" approach. Back analysis of monitoring data from excavations should be carried out to obtain more realistic values of ground stiffness for Hong Kong residual soils and saprolites.

(f) 弹性地基梁方法通常采用了太沙基在1955年推荐的较为保守的水平基床系数。 应对开挖监测数据进行反分析，以获得更贴合实际的香港残疾土和腐泥土的土弹簧刚度值。

(g) Although there is some evidence to suggest that the insitu horizontal stress in residual soils and saprolites is low, measurements of K0 are lacking. Suitable methods for measuring K0 in the field should be investigated.

(g)尽管有一些证据表明残积土和腐泥土中的原位水平应力很低，但目前缺乏 静止土压力系数K0 的实测数据。应研究在现场测量 K0 的合适方法。

(h) A large amount of settlement data has been obtained during the construction of the Mass Transit Railway underground stations and other deep basement excavations. It would be usieful to try to establish settlement curves from these data, similar to those derived by Peck, for Hong Kong residual soils and saprolites.

(h) 在港铁地下车站施工及其他深基坑开挖工程中，取得了大量的周边地表沉降观测数据。应当尝试根据这些数据建立针对香港残积土与腐泥土的基坑周边地表沉降曲线（类似于 Peck推导得到的那种）。