Packers are inflatable rubber devices that you can use to seal off portions of a borehole. Usually, they are used for fracking or pump tests of isolated layers. The following link is for a wireline rig but it gives you the idea. I don’t know if they make a setup for a solid stem setup...
Thanks PEInc. I was arriving at a the same conclusons myself. Figure 11.8.6.2-1 makes this pretty clear, but it's a bit convoluted to determine that this also applies to anchored walls. As an aside, I find it interesting that Pae is not used below excavation grade, even though we're considering...
Thanks all for the replies. I would note that the apparent EP diagrams for a braced wall with cohesionless soils also goes to zero at the mudline (Sabatini FHWA geotechnical enginering circular).
AASHTO LRFD bridge design specs show the AEPs we are all familiar with in chapter 3. But active pressure goes to 0 at the grade in front of the wall. It’s unclear to me, according to AASHTO, whether the passive in front of the wall should be reduced by the active pressure on the back of the...
Out of curiousity, why do you have axial loads on a pile wall?
I see the logic of BridgeSmith's approach, but I think the FHWA reduction factors account for end bearing and skin friction. I'm not sure BS's approach is applicable whith skin friction.
I would consider EireChch's approach, and...
