One sided wall with soil nail wall

[CDOTreg3]

Would a soil nail wall that is being used as part of a one-sided wall system (for an underground parking structure) be considered permanent? Or could the nails be excavated in the future (for another structure) if necessary?
Thanks!

 

[dcarr82775]

If the underground parking structure is designed to handle the soil loads, yes the nails could be removed later.

 

[CDOTreg3]

It is designed to take the load, so then I assume in a sense that the soil nail wall acts like form for the foundation wall. Thank you for your reply!

 

[PEinc]

If the soil nail was designed and built as a permanent wall, then the garage wall was not designed for lateral earth and surcharge loads. If someones digs behind a permanent or temporary soil nail wall and removes the lateral loads from the soil nail wall, there still would be no load on the garage wall. If they then backfill against the garage wall (without the soil nail wall in place), the garage wall would be damaged unless it were designed for these loads.

You need to know if the soil nail wall is a permanent or temporary wall. If temporary, the garage wall SHOULD have been designed to resist the latwral earth and surcharge pressures. I say "should" because I have seen several times where there was confusion on the part of the building/garage's architect and/or engineer as to what the lateral design loads should be when using TEMPORARY excavation support.

http://www.PeirceEngineering.com

 

[TXStructural]

Soil nails may be used to make the soil mass a "solid block" for bearing purposes, or may simply be a means to prevent sloughing. True soil nails are NOT really just a tie back for the wall that faces the cut, but provide restraint from movement and shear resistance to the soil mass.

I would not plan to excavate behind a soil nailed wall unless I had structural drawings for the building AND the wall was anything other than civil or architectural. If a structural wall stands alone, with a soil nailed, shotcrete wall behind it, I'd say it was temporary. If the soil nails are attached to the structural wall, the design probably requires them to be there.