Trouser
Structural
- Jan 31, 2011
- 19
On a recent project, our Contract Office was asking questions about the design of an MSEW. One of my co-workers pointed out that they used to vary the reinforcement length along the height of MSEW to reduce backfill quantities. I know that AASHTO code does not allow this, but I don't have any background regarding why the industry has moved away from this technique. Thoughts?
Another topic of interest relates to minimizing wall areas. Are there any tips/tricks that a saltier engineering may have that would help to reduce wall areas when the MSEW acts as a bridge abutment? On our last project, the EOR layed the walls out in a U-shape. The bottom of the u is parallel with the bridge abutment and the sides are parallel to the centerline of the alignment. This required a lot of steps in the wall bottom as well as a lot of buried wall area to maintain slope stability.
Another topic of interest relates to minimizing wall areas. Are there any tips/tricks that a saltier engineering may have that would help to reduce wall areas when the MSEW acts as a bridge abutment? On our last project, the EOR layed the walls out in a U-shape. The bottom of the u is parallel with the bridge abutment and the sides are parallel to the centerline of the alignment. This required a lot of steps in the wall bottom as well as a lot of buried wall area to maintain slope stability.