Longisland,
I agree with jdonville, you are thinking of the soil nails as individual structural elements. Soil nailing was intended to be considered as a system where the nails and facing combine to give you your stability. Therefore, staggering the nail rows will not affect your stability...
Sorry, it looks like this will be a little late for you.
I have designed permanent and temporary soil nail shoring systems in areas with groundwater seepage and a groundwater table above the bottom of excavation. The system must be designed for hydrostatic pressures. During construction...
You did not mention whether your retaining wall will be in a cut or fill situation. If you are in a cut situation and the soils are acceptable for the technology, I would look at using soil nailing. I have designed soil nail shoring systems to support 1:1 slopes in the past.
Another possible source would be the local building department. If there were recent projects in the area, the geotechnical reports will be on file and should be considered public record, so anyone can go down and get a copy of them.
If the soil conditions are right for it, I would consider...
I agree with Austgino in that the sand does not have a cohesion value. MSE walls are able to stand vertically due to the stress transfer in the system, not because of the cohesion in the material. However, I do agree with the design approach taken by bosy and basford for checking global...
Hi Longisland,
How deep is the fill layer and what does it consist of? Generally, to avoid differential settlements, you can design your foundations to bear on the same soils, as it sounds like you have done. However, depending on the depth of the fill section, and the length of the piles...