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ASCE VS IBCC for design lateral earth pressure

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tonybridges

Civil/Environmental
Jun 26, 2022
1
US
Hello I am currently studying for the PE and I am confused on what value to use for the design lateral earth pressure
The 7-10 says in Table 3.2-1 that for well grade soils the design load is 35 psf
While the IBC says on 1610.1 to use 30 for active and 60 for at rest
The difference is greater or smaller depending on what soil you look at and if it is active or passive. Why is there such a massive difference?
Here are the tables for reference

Web_capture_26-6-2022_15418__j2njvm.jpg
Web_capture_26-6-2022_1547__cgtpyt.jpg


Thanks for any help!
 
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Look at the footnotes of the ASCE table. Those modify the table values to give you the at-rest pressure. With that you get rough agreement between the tables. As for the variance between the nominal active values, both of these documents are consensus standards of two different bodies. Its all about what the specific group can agree on. I would not worry too much about the differences for several reasons: 1) It is impropbable the exam will ask you to pull one of these values out. 2) if it does ask you to pull out a value, it will tell you which standard to use, 3) if in the unlikely situtaiton you are asked to produce a value for a worked problem and they dont give you the basis document to use, so long as you document your source you will get credit, 4) When it comes to real practice any significant wall is likely to use values from a soils report where a geotechnical engineer has worked out what the pressures should be based on the actual soils and soil mechanics.

Robert Hale, PE, SE
 
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