Breakaway Walls

[RESENG2]

Curious if any of you know of a resource to design breakaway walls (preferably CMU) for walls built between an augercast pile foundation.
I've never designed anything to fail.
The wall has to withstand the wind pressures without failure, but has to fail under the much higher flood loading.
Thanks.

 

[cvg]

I've designed breakaway fencing - designed to prevent entry into outlet works on a dam, but with shear pin which breaks allowing the fence to fold down when water flows through. Fusegates are sometimes installed on dam spillways which operate in a similar manner, folding down to allow water over a spillway during flooding. You may be able to search this on the web.

 

[JedClampett]

This might be a good spot for a "Tideflex" (

http://www.tideflex.com/)

valve. It's a check valve that opens under a very small head, but could resist a wind load. They're not too expensive, This would avoid having to repair the structure after a flood, just pump it out.
I think to try to guarantee anything to fail at a precise load is more difficult than designing it to resist the load.

 

[RESENG2]

Thanks,
This is a residential structure however, and they will likely stucco the walls between the piles. I was thinking of a cantilevered wall that would roll over at a load somewhat greater than the design wind load or even unreinforced masonry that would simply break upon flood impact. The flood load is going to be nearly 75 times the wind load, so there is a huge window between the two.

 

[bylar]

Check with the FEMA documents. I have seen it and used it for the exact situation you have but I don't remember the title