Road with an 18% grade. The civil engineer and owner want to use Portland cement concrete. Low traffic, services about 10 or 12 homes. Good soil, 5in concrete on 4in base course.
They have already poured curb and gutter. They don't know what to do, so they are asking me, the geotech...
The structural engineer on our project just told me he way under-designed his retaining wall. He apparently plugged wrong data into his computer program. It's an 8-12 feet high wall with a backfill slope above the wall of at least 1.5H:1V, so loads are pretty high. I'm thinking maybe a few...
We are constructing a steep reinforced slope (1:1) above a vertical concrete retaining wall. I'm having a difficult time determining the additional lateral pressure on the wall due to the steep slope. Rankine, Coulomb, or log-spiral do not work for slope angles greater than phi.
I'd like to...
I'm looking for some guidance on how to determine appropriate lateral pressures for backfill between a rock cut and retaining wall. How should the depth of backfill soil affect lateral pressures in relation to wall height? Some kind of weighted average? Thanks for any assistance....
I hear it used to be fairly common for geotechs to have a machine shop make their consolidation/swell machines.
I have a machine shop next door and thought I might try it. Has anybody done this and/or have pictures they can share??
The basic concept seems easy enough, but I'm not sure of...
As I read it, the 3rd Edition contains significant geotechnical revisions to establish Em and Ym values.
Are "old" 2nd ed. PTI design values of Em & Ym, as determined prior to the 3rd edition PTI Manual procedures valid?
My experience comparing the results of several current slab...
I've been using the Post-Tensioning Institute's new 2004 3rd ed. Design Manual (AKA Alternative Procedures). I'm finding the soil design values I'm getting are significantly higher than the previous methods
For example, a structural recently told me he calced a small, one-story...
Project is residential tracked home development.
To help reduce center/edge lift and edge moisture penetration, I wanted to recommend a horizontal barrier extending away from the slab.
I envision a strong UV resistant geomembrane like one of the Permalon products placed 4 to 6 inches below the...
I have a site with numerous home sites and soils that may experience settlement and others that may experice expansion. The Developer would prefer one set of soil parameters for post-tension design. My question is, would a design based on expansive soils work for soils subject to settlement, or...
When should a wall be considered "restrained" or "unrestrained" in relation to later soil pressures. Specifically my question is in relation to 6 feet high walls of a swimming pool. The structral engineer thinks there is enough distance between the perpindicular walls on the sides to make it...
Retaining wall design parameters.
In several geotechnical reports I've seen an allowable foundation toe pressure of 1/3 x allowable foundation pressure for eccentric or lateral loading. Why is this recommended? and is this an appropriate recommendation? It seems to me all unrestrained...
An existing buildng will be razed for a new 4-storey structure. There is an adjacent building with a zero setback distance. The upper 15 to 20 feet of soils are loose to medium dense old fill soils, underlain by a very dense clayey sand stratum. The bottom level will be a parking garage...
