New Mirqab - 39
Souq Al-Rawda 3, 2nd Floor, Office 209
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APARTMENT BUILDING
(2B+G+4 Floors)
STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF
EXCAVATION SUPPORT SYSTEM
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P.O. Box 1362 ‐ Tel: (+974) 4029 9219 / 4037 0188‐ Fax: (+974) 4037 0188
Salwa Road - 340
New Mirqab - 39
Souq Al-Rawda 3, 2nd Floor, Office 209
info@neosce.com
STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF
EXCAVATION SUPPORT SYSTEM
Contiguous Bored Pile
Soil Nailing System with Shotcrete Wall
Signature
Document HISTORY LOG:
Rev. No. Date Issued Purpose of Issue Revised Sections
This report has been prepared in accordance with the terms and conditions of appointment of Neo Spectrum
Engineering Consultancy (NEOSEC) for the aforementioned project. NEOSEC cannot accept any responsibility for any
use of or reliance on the contents of this report by any third party unless confirmed in writing by NEOSEC.
www.neosce.com / www.neosts.com
P.O. Box 1362 ‐ Tel: (+974) 4029 9219 / 4037 0188‐ Fax: (+974) 4037 0188
Salwa Road - 340
New Mirqab - 39
Souq Al-Rawda 3, 2nd Floor, Office 209
info@neosce.com
Table of Contents
Section Description Page No.
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1
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P.O. Box 1362 ‐ Tel: (+974) 4029 9219 / 4037 0188‐ Fax: (+974) 4037 0188
Salwa Road - 340
New Mirqab - 39
Souq Al-Rawda 3, 2nd Floor, Office 209
info@neosce.com
List of Figures
Section Description Page No.
Figure 1: Proposed Apartment Building Basement / Foundation Layout ..................................... 1
Figure 2: Basement B2 – Retaining Wall (RW3) Section ............................................................. 2
Figure 3: Basement B2 – Ramp Wall Section 1 ........................................................................... 3
Figure 4: Basement B2 – Retaining Wall (RW2) Section ............................................................. 4
Figure 5: Project Site / Vicinity Map ............................................................................................. 5
Figure 6: Shoring System Layout ................................................................................................. 5
Figure 7: Global Stability Case 1 (Excavation Ht = -7.35m BGL) with Adjacent Road ............... 11
Figure 8: Global Stability Case 2 (Excavation Ht = -7.35m BGL) with Adjacent Building........... 12
Figure 9: Global Stability Case 3 (Excavation Ht = -7.85m BGL) with Adjacent Road ............... 13
Figure 10: Global Stability Case 4 (Excavation Ht = -7.85m BGL) with Adjacent Building......... 14
Figure 11: Soil Nail Load Support Diagram ................................................................................ 20
Figure 12: Schematic Soil Nail Design Load Support Diagram .................................................. 21
List of Tables
Section Description Page No.
Table 1: Summary of Minimum Factors of Safety ........................................................................ 8
Table 2: Unfactored Soil Parameters ........................................................................................... 9
Table 3: Assumed Pull-Out Resistance Based on Soil/Rock Type .............................................. 9
Table 4: Calculated Nail Pullout Resistance ................................................................................ 9
Table 5: Global Slope Stability Results with Soil Nail ................................................................. 10
Table 6: Global Slope Stability Results with Soil Nail and Over Excavation .............................. 10
Table 7: Shotcrete Construction Facing and Plate Capacity ...................................................... 18
Table 8: Resulting Soil Nail Parameters..................................................................................... 22
Table 9: Maximum Allowable Tensile Force of Soil Nail ............................................................ 22
Table 10: Maximum Allowable Force Between Steel & Grout .................................................... 22
Table 11: Maximum Allowable Force Between Soil & Grout ...................................................... 22
Table 12: Maximum Allowable Force for Anchor Nail Head/Plate Capacity ............................... 22
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P.O. Box 1362 ‐ Tel: (+974) 4029 9219 / 4037 0188‐ Fax: (+974) 4037 0188
STRUCTURAL DESIGN REPORT
1. INTRODUCTION
The present design refers to the excavation support system by contiguous bored piles and shoring
by soil nailing system with shotcrete wall to be the most practical system to be used as enabling
work for the construction of the Apartment Building (2B+G+4).
The under investigated site is located in Al Sadd within Doha City, Qatar.
Generally, the site is bordered by paved road from the East Direction with existing buildings from
the remaining directions.
A 4-Level building is located at the South Direction, while the North and West Directions both
have low rise residential units (single and two-level buildings).
PROJECT
SITE
The excavation will reach a level of approximately -7.35m BGL with an estimated over excavation
of 500mm as factor of safety in the global soil stability verification.
Contiguous shoring bored piles shall be installed within the project site set back area adjacent to
the four-level structure. Working platform level shall be existing ground level for all shoring piles
with the main concept of the retaining system was thought of to be fixed vertical cantilever element
installed into the rock with suitable embedded length. The soil nailing system with shotcrete wall,
subject of the present design, is foreseen all along the remaining perimeter of the basement
layout, allowing for the excavation of the two-level basement.
The design has concentrated on rationalizing the design by considering constructability and
ensuring compatibility between the contiguous shoring bored piles, soil nail lengths, spacing and
its facing/shotcrete wall capacity.
2. CODES & REFERENCE DOCUMENTS
Relevant reference IFC drawings are included as figures in the report along with excerpts from
the Geotechnical Investigation report prepared by Arab Center for Engineering Studies (ACES);
Report No. S18000058.
Shown below are the reference codes and materials used in the structural report.
3. MATERIALS PARAMETERS
Shown below are the design and materials specifications used in the analysis.
The subsurface condition was based on the results of the three (3) boreholes showing the
generalized subsurface conditions and the recommended design parameters.
5. CONTIGUOUS BORED PILE
The analysis of the shoring is carried out by means of the software WALLAP Ver. 5.03 developed
by Geosolve. WALLAP is a powerful, fast and user-friendly program for analysing the stability of
cantilevered and propped retaining walls. WALLAP is suitable for the analysis of both temporary
works, such as sheet pile walls and permanent works such as reinforced concrete diaphragm
walls and contiguous bored pile walls. Factors of safety are computed performing a limit
equilibrium analysis according to standard codes of practice (British, Eurocode and CIRIA), while
wall displacements and bending moments are calculated by modelling the wall and soil as beams
and springs, with two available spring models: the subgrade reaction or a 2D finite element
analysis. The software runs the analysis by modelling the actual sequence of construction of the
wall.
Structural design of the contiguous bored pile as certified by Neo Spectrum is shown in Appendix
A of this report.
Soil nailing is a technique used to reinforce and strengthen existing ground. Soil is a poor
structural material because it is weak in tension. Steel is strong in tension. The fundamental
concept of soil nailing is that soil can be effectively reinforced by installing closely spaced grouted
steel bars, called “nails”, into a slope or excavation as construction proceeds from the top down.
Nails are commonly referred to as “passive” inclusions. The term “passive” means that the nails
are not pre-tensioned (as are tiebacks) when they are installed. The nail bars are forced into
tension as the ground deforms laterally in response to the loss of support caused by continued
excavation.
The grouted nails increase the shear strength of the overall soil mass and limit displacement
during and after excavation. A structural facing connected to the nails is used when the slope
angle exceeds a predetermined critical value or when environmental conditions would cause
deterioration of the exposed soil face over its design life.
The analyses adopt a soil nail configuration that prevents any potential slip surfaces reaching the
excavation area. The detailed design has used a partial factor method as follows:
*Note that the groundwater level was not considered in this slope stabilization since the structure
will only be temporary and the water table will be having a considerable drop because of on-going
construction dewatering works.
In addition to this, weep holes should be provided to eliminate any possibility of water retention
behind the temporary shotcrete wall.
Design Parameters
Soil Stratum
γb (kN/m3) c’ (kN/m2) ’
Fill Material 18.00 0.00 30º
Simsima Limestone 20.00 280.00 30º
For the shotcrete wall, a maximum cohesive value of 100kPa with 45° and density = 25kN/m3
In the absence of any pull-out test results at the time of writing, the soil nail pull-out resistance
has been estimated to be only 5% of the unconfined compressive strength of the rock.
Unconfined
Bond
Soil Stratum Compressive
Strength
Strength
Fill Material 0.00 MPa 0.00 kN/m2
Simsima Limestone (Highly Weathered and Fractured) 5.50 MPa 275.00 kN/m2
The grouted hole diameter is commonly assumed to be equal to the nominal diameter of the
drillhole. The actual final grout diameter may be larger than the diameter of the predrilled hole,
due to oversizing of the hole by drilling action and/or grout infiltration into surrounding permeable,
granular soils.
The nail pullout resistance is expressed in terms of force per unit length of nail (kN/m) and were
calculated using a nominal 150mm diameter grout hole (using similar size self drilling bit) for rotary
drilled soil nails.
Note that only about 80% of the calculated resistance will be considered in the analysis.
Simplified Bishop’s method of slices satisfying both moment and force equilibrium has been used
to search for the circular failure surface.
Global stability shall be presented for the two (2) surcharge values using the unfactored soil
parameters presented in the table below.
Shown in the table below is the resulting global slope stability results for the two (2) cases of
excavations.
Note that the excavation area, based on the idealized soil parameters are passing in terms of the
slope stability analysis.
This is in comparison with the global stability with over excavation of 500mm as shown in the
table below.
Table 6: Global Slope Stability Results with Soil Nail and Over Excavation
6.4 TEMPORARY SHOTCRETE WALL
Strength Criteria 1: Facing Flexure
Based on soil and constructability consideration, the nail spacings shall be 2.00m for the
horizontal considering only 1 layer from the vertical.
The connection plate will be 200mm wide and 25mm thick. The facing reinforcement is selected
as T8 mesh bars at 200mm center-to-center spacing (A252).
All facing steel is assumed to be nominally located at the center of the section. The yield stress
of the reinforcement is specified as 500.00 MPa and the specified design concrete compressive
strength at 28 days is fc’ = 16.00N/mm2 (fcu = 20.00 MPa).
The areas of vertical steel over the supports (2T12 vertical bars and mesh vertical wires) and at
midspan (mesh vertical wires) for a facing width, b equal to 2.00m are computed as follows:
The corresponding average nominal unit moment resistances are computed as indicated below:
Note: Since we only have a single layer of soil nail, we shall consider twice the
out of plane spacing for calculation purposes.
The nominal internal punching shear strength of the facing is computed below where hC and D’c
are as indicated.
VN = 0.33(√16.00)(π)(300)(100) = 124.41 kN
From Table 4.2 (FHWA-SA-96-069R), the pressure factor for punching shear Cs for a 100mm
thick temporary facing is 2.00.
The punching cone bottom diameter Dc is equal to D’c + hc = 400mm. The diameter of the grout
column is estimated to be about DGC = 150mm. The corresponding areas are computed as follows:
Calculating the required anchor plate dimension. Note that the 67.50kN is the tension load carried
by each soil nail from the output of the software.
Note that bearing area will be calculated based on the facing wall strength (20MPa) and
considering the 6mm tolerance to the bolt hole diameter.
67.50kN
115.50mm
Therefore, the allowable nail head load TF = 73.85 kN. That is, plate capacity is controlling the
mode of failure at the nail head.
The nail load support diagram is constructed by plotting the nail head load or plate capacity
(73.85kN) vertically, extending the pull-out resistance (Q) from the nail head load until the nail
tension (TN) load is reached. The nail tension load is extended horizontally until the pull-out
resistance line (Q) for the end of the box is intersected.
A typical Soil Nail Force diagram, which exhibits all three failure modes, as shown above. In this
case, the Plate Capacity is less than the Tensile Capacity, and therefore "stripping" is a possible
failure mode. If the Plate Capacity is greater than or equal to the Tensile Capacity, then stripping
cannot occur, and the Soil Nail Force diagram will be determined only by the Tensile and Pullout
failure modes.
135.00 kN
73.85 kN
Note that the TGR was an additional check introduced to determine the pull-out resistance of the
reinforcing soil nail with the grout. Reference to the calculation was based on the provision of BS
8110-1:1997 Section 3.12.8.4 for the calculation of the design ultimate anchorage bond stress.
These calculated allowable values are to be used as comparisons for the soil nail forces derived
from the software SLIDE Version 6.050 (Rocscience Inc.) for the slope stability analysis with
reduced cohesion values.
Maximum
Nail Force Allowable
Row Level Bar Nail Spacing Tallow ≥ Treq’d
Embedment Required, Tensile
No. BGL Size, D (Out of Plane) Check
Length, L Treq’d Force,
Tallow
A -2.00m 6.00 m 25 mm 2000 mm 67.50 kN 135.00 kN OK
Maximum
Nail Force Allowable
Row Level Bar Nail Spacing Tallow ≥ Treq’d
Embedment Required, Tensile
No. BGL Size, D (Out of Plane) Check
Length, L Treq’d Force,
Tallow
A -2.00m 6.00 m 25 mm 2000 mm 67.50 kN 421.49 kN OK
Table 12: Maximum Allowable Force for Anchor Nail Head/Plate Capacity
Force
Row Level Nail Embedment Anchor Nail Head/ Tallow ≥ Treq’d
Required,
No. BGL Length, L Plate Capacity Check
Treq’d
A -2.00m 6.00 m 73.85 kN 67.50 kN OK
Thus, drainage is also considered as a critical element, and is incorporated into all permanent
walls and many temporary walls.
A dewatered face in the excavation is highly desirable for soil nailing. If the ground water
percolates through the face, the unreinforced soil may slump locally upon excavation, or the
shotcrete to soil bond may be reduced, making it impossible to establish a satisfactory shotcrete
skin.
However, since the original groundwater table is within the depth of the proposed excavation,
long-term drainage measure must be included during the duration of the project in order to control
of flowing water and for groundwater depressurization when an unanticipated water table is
encountered.
Deep horizontal drains, typically consisting of 50mm diameter (minimum) slotted or perforated
tubes and inclined upward at 5 to 10 degrees to the horizontal, must be installed to control the
possible groundwater pressure imposed on the retained soil mass.
The design spacing, and depth of these drains will be site specific and with a density of
approximately one drain per 10.00m2 of face.
During construction, if drainage systems are collecting significant water, it is necessary for the
contractor to collect and conduct these inflows away from the construction area.
6.7 CORROSION PROTECTION
Long term performance of soil nails depends on their ability to withstand corrosive attack from the
environment. Corrosion protection is an integral and extremely important aspect of soil nail
construction / inspection.
It should be emphasized that soil nail corrosion protection requirements should be carefully
considered during design, and that substitution of less effective corrosion protection should not
be allowed without engineering approval.
Soil and water test have been performed to measure the aggressiveness of the soil environment
at site as indicated in the attached geotechnical investigation report.
However, since the soil nail wall is only for short-term temporary applications, in this application,
the portland cement grout surrounding the soil nails within the drill hole shall be relied upon to
provide the necessary corrosion protection. This will be considered to be adequate for temporary
stabilization purposes during the construction duration of the project.
From the foregoing design of the shoring system, all details are within allowable limits and verified
to have been designed with safety factors in accordance with generally accepted principles of
structural engineering.