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Cellular concrete backfill behind soldier pile wall

Cellular concrete backfill behind soldier pile wall can result in cost savings


In many cases one might have to backfill over soft soil and carry a heavy load (such as a railway). One approach to stabilizing such a retaining wall is to construct a soldier pile wall system and fill the space behind the soldier pile wall with structural backfill. The density of the structural backfill would be in the order of 120 to 125 pcf (19 kN/m3), and will exert a considerable load on the soldier pile system especially if compaction is carried out.


One way to create significant savings is to replace the structural backfill with cellular concrete. One such case was examined with DeepXcav, where the pile spacing could be increased from 6ft to 15 ft and savings in the order of 30% could be realized. Switching to cellular concrete would be more beneficial when the length of retaining wall is greater and mobilization costs form a smaller part of the total project cost. The following figure presents the basic results of our analyses: Case A) presents conditions without the cellular concrete, while Case B) presents conditions where cellular concrete is introduced.

Soldier_pile_wall_with_cellular_concrete_savings.jpg



Design with structural backfill

Design with Cellular Concrete Backfill

Wall Length

 100

100

Pier spacing

 6

15

Number of piers

 16.67

6.67

Lagging Square feet

 1,500

1,500

Lagging $/SF

$           10.00

   $                 10.00

Lagging Cost

$    15,000.00

$           15,000.00

Pier diameter

 3

2

Pier depth

 35

30

Steel

W21X147

W21X93

$/lb steel

$             1.00

$                   1.00

Cost of steel

 $      2,450.00

$               980.00

Concrete /pier

 9.16

3.49

Concrete total

152.64

23.26

$ Concrete/CY inplace

$         250.00

$                250.00

total concrete cost

$    38,159.72

$             5,814.81

Drilling piers/day

 2

2

drilling rate $/day

3500

3500

cost of drilling

 $    29,166.67

$           11,666.67

CY/LF cellular

 0

6.81

Cost of Cellular/CY

 0

45

total cellular cost

$                -

$           30,645.00

CY/LF soil Backfill

 6.81

0

Cost of soil backfill/CY

$           10.00

$                  10.00

total soil backfill cost

 $      6,810.00

$                        -

Total Cost

 $    91,586.39

$           64,106.48

Total Cost /LF

 $         915.86

$                641.06


 

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