Re-bar Pull-up Capacity in Soil

[kxa]

Does anybody know of a good reference material to calculate the uplift capacity of a metal rod or re-bar in soil at different depths and for different types of soil?

 

[AggieYank]

I've never used rebar anchored to soil. It seems like you'd be relying on skin friction between the soil and steel, and would get very very low capacities, never developing even close to the steel capacity. Drilling and epoxying rebar into rock is different, as is anchoring rebar into concrete which is covered up by soil.

 

[sundale]

We recently did crude pullout tests for some #6 rebar driven with an air jack into some soil for a temporary excavation's shotcreted slope for OSHA safety. These were like cheap soil nails (no grout) and worked by only friction.

As I recall, the worst number we got was like 1,500 lbs (actual, no safety factor) into some loose fill placed in an old arroyo with 16' or so embed. The tension values were much higher in the native soil (glacial till, I think) but it had so many cobbles that getting a rebar in with an air hammer was problematic.

 

[DRC1]

I rember reading some papers on the subject. They were published about 10 years ago in ASCE Geotechnical Journal. ASCE may be able to help you track them down. The papers dicussed the pullout resistance of a bar driven in a slope.