Design of Soldier Piles
Design of Soldier Piles
(OP)
I have a pit wall that will be constructed using soldier piles at about 8'-9' o/c.
The height of the wall is about 10' high.
The native soil is a highly plastic clay that will be excavated about 2' from the wall location and extend upwards about 4'. The remaining 6' of soil will be excavated at a 1:1 slope, that is, the native soil will be cut away from the wall by about 8'.
The H soldier piles will be embedded in concrete caissons/piles at the base of the wall.
The space between the native soil and the wall will be backfilled with compacted granular stone.
Is there a relatively easy manner to determine the soil pressure?
Is it reasonable to assume that the pressure would be caused by the granular material only? will little or no contribution by the native cohesive soil?
Is the native cohesive soil too close and it will provide an additional component?
Is there a rule of thumb about the proximity of native soil to the wall, assuming there is a granular backfill material?
thanks, Dik
The height of the wall is about 10' high.
The native soil is a highly plastic clay that will be excavated about 2' from the wall location and extend upwards about 4'. The remaining 6' of soil will be excavated at a 1:1 slope, that is, the native soil will be cut away from the wall by about 8'.
The H soldier piles will be embedded in concrete caissons/piles at the base of the wall.
The space between the native soil and the wall will be backfilled with compacted granular stone.
Is there a relatively easy manner to determine the soil pressure?
Is it reasonable to assume that the pressure would be caused by the granular material only? will little or no contribution by the native cohesive soil?
Is the native cohesive soil too close and it will provide an additional component?
Is there a rule of thumb about the proximity of native soil to the wall, assuming there is a granular backfill material?
thanks, Dik





RE: Design of Soldier Piles
Hope this helps.
f-d
¡papá gordo ain't no madre flaca!
RE: Design of Soldier Piles
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
RE: Design of Soldier Piles
RE: Design of Soldier Piles
Regarding the support to the gravel backfill, we had a thread a few months (or so ago) on the methods used to calculate the contribution of a granular fill of this nature. My approach is to use the friction angle of the granular material, take a angle of 45+phi/2 and where that angle (measured horizontally from the back of the soldier pile wall) intersects the ground surface you have the maximum pressure contribution from the granular backfill. At that point strike a vertical line to form the pressure rectangle for this backfill. You'll see that it's just not much for the case that you have a 2-ft wide prism of granular backfill on a 10 ft tall wall.
It's a fun discussion, but further input would require boring data, classification testing and boundary conditions for the pit and neighboring land (heck, what if there's some historic church next to this?).
f-d
¡papá gordo ain't no madre flaca!
RE: Design of Soldier Piles
Dik
RE: Design of Soldier Piles
RE: Design of Soldier Piles
Thanks, I have a copy of the USS Design Manual. The problem is far less onorous than I thought. At the end of the day, the soldier piles are attached to a slab at the top, there is 4' of backfill in the base (the wall is only 8' high, now) and there is no backhoe running around the edge to excvate the slag.
Dik