Location
Chicago, Illinois
Date
03 May 2013, 2:15 pm - 2:40 pm
Abstract
A-Wall systems are a combination of deep foundations and, in some cases, tiebacks used to provide lateral support to an unstable ground mass. Determination of the lateral and vertical forces acting on an A-Wall system can be a complex endeavor. As the unstable soil mass tends to move past and through the A-Wall system, forces are generated between the A-Wall elements and the soil. These forces provide support to the ground mass. If the A-Wall is correctly designed, the forces will increase as the soil moves until a maximum is attained at which ground movement ceases and the system reaches equilibrium. Design of an A-Wall thus requires Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) analyses that provide a solution that meets force and moment equilibrium as well as compatibility of displacements. The individual elements of the A-Wall are designed based on a structural analysis utilizing the estimated forces. This paper describes the philosophy of design of A-Walls. It also contains a detailed description of design steps based on the use of a commercially available computer program that allows determination of soil forces against a deep foundation element installed through a mass of moving soil. An iterative method is presented to find a solution to the A-Wall problem that meets equilibrium and compatibility and considers material nonlinearity of soils and A-Wall components, as well as geometric nonlinearity of the deep foundation elements. Two case histories are presented.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
7th Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2013 Missouri University of Science and Technology, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Gómez, Jesús E.; Englert, Carlos; and Robinson, Helen D., "Design of A-Walls for Stabilization of Slopes and Embankments in Soft Soils" (2013). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 4.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/7icchge/session14/4
Design of A-Walls for Stabilization of Slopes and Embankments in Soft Soils
Chicago, Illinois
A-Wall systems are a combination of deep foundations and, in some cases, tiebacks used to provide lateral support to an unstable ground mass. Determination of the lateral and vertical forces acting on an A-Wall system can be a complex endeavor. As the unstable soil mass tends to move past and through the A-Wall system, forces are generated between the A-Wall elements and the soil. These forces provide support to the ground mass. If the A-Wall is correctly designed, the forces will increase as the soil moves until a maximum is attained at which ground movement ceases and the system reaches equilibrium. Design of an A-Wall thus requires Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) analyses that provide a solution that meets force and moment equilibrium as well as compatibility of displacements. The individual elements of the A-Wall are designed based on a structural analysis utilizing the estimated forces. This paper describes the philosophy of design of A-Walls. It also contains a detailed description of design steps based on the use of a commercially available computer program that allows determination of soil forces against a deep foundation element installed through a mass of moving soil. An iterative method is presented to find a solution to the A-Wall problem that meets equilibrium and compatibility and considers material nonlinearity of soils and A-Wall components, as well as geometric nonlinearity of the deep foundation elements. Two case histories are presented.
