NoWittyHandle
Geotechnical
- Mar 24, 2003
- 36
I'm looking for some guidance on designing heel or foot blocks, concrete blocks that support rakers through passive soil resistance. One option would be to design the heel block as a retaining wall. If I do this, what assumptions should I make for wall friction? I also have a copy of an article from the August 1974 edition of Civil Engineering magazine (USA) that provides a method of designing heel blocks. This method provides significantly greater capacities to heel blocks than would be provided by designing the heel blocks as retaining walls, but the method is not recommended for rakers with a slope flatter than 1 vertical to 1.5 horizontal.
As an aside, I have experimented with Plaxis to analyze heel blocks, and have found that anlgling the back face of the heel block, the face on the opposite side from the raker, greatly increases the capactity of the heel block.
Thank you for your responses.
As an aside, I have experimented with Plaxis to analyze heel blocks, and have found that anlgling the back face of the heel block, the face on the opposite side from the raker, greatly increases the capactity of the heel block.
Thank you for your responses.
