Current practice for designing laterally loaded shafts that pass through a mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall often involves isolating the shaft from the MSE mass and anchoring the shaft into rock with a rock socket. Sizeable cost and time savings could be realized, along with continued effective performance and reliability, if a method were available to evaluate the lateral load capacity of a shaft supported by the MSE mass alone without a rock socket. The Kansas Department of Transportation assembled a team to develop such design methods: the construction, instrumentation, and loading of multiple 36-in. (0.914-m) diameter shafts supported within the reinforced mass of a 20-ft (6-m) tall MSE block wall designed according to existing FHWA procedures without consideration of lateral loads. The design and construction of the wall and the shafts, which were designed as drilled shafts, and the results from the lateral load tests of four shafts are described. These shafts had lengths equal to the full height of the wall and had spacings from the back of the wall facing to the center of each shaft of one, two, three, and four shaft diameters. Results for both load and displacement of the shafts, the width of shaft influence, and the relative displacements of the shafts and the wall facing during loading are presented, along with design recommendations.
Current practice for designing laterally loaded cast-in-place shafts that pass through an MSE Wall involves isolating the shafts from the MSE mass and anchoring the shafts into the underlying foundation material. Sizeable cost and time savings could be realized, while still maintaining stability and reliability, if a method were available to evaluate the lateral load capacity of a shaft that is supported by the MSE mass alone with no rock socket.Construction, instrumentation, and testing of multiple 0.9m (36in.) diameter shafts solely supported by a 6m (20 ft) MSE block wall was conducted for the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT). This paper describes the design and construction of the wall and shafts, and the results from the lateral load tests of two of the shafts. These shafts had lengths that were equal to the full height of the wall and 75 percent of the full height of the wall to evaluate the reduction in capacity if shorter foundation elements suspended in the MSE mass were used. Results for both load and deflection of the shafts and the relative deflections of the shafts and wall facing during loading are presented.
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