Volume 38, N. 3, September-December 2015 | DOWNLOAD PDF(10 downloads)
Abstract
In the design of flexible retaining walls supported by several levels of struts, apparent design diagrams are frequently used, particularly to predict the loads on the struts. In the case of sandy soils, the traditional design diagrams do not consider water table. The present work deals with apparent design diagrams for cases considering water table. A brief analysis of the problem based on published information is presented. Stress-strain finite element analyses are applied to a case study, comparing situations without water table with others where the water table is assumed. For the cases where water table is assumed two types of conditions are considered: those where seepage is allowed and those where it is not. A parametric analysis is performed to study the effects on soil pressures and on apparent pressures of geometrical and mechanical parameters of the soil and structure. From the analysis of the results a proposal for the apparent diagrams for the design of retaining walls performed in soils under drained conditions with water table above the bottom of the excavation is presented.