Complex Pier Scour and Contraction Scour in Cohesive Soils

We also offer the SRICOS-EFA software that accompanies this document.

NCHRP Report 24-15
January 2003

This project deals with pier scour and contraction scour in cohesive soils. A previous project performed by the same team of researchers was started in 1990 and was sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation. It dealt with pier scour in cohesive soils. In the TxDOT project, the piers were cylindrical and the water depth was more than two times the pier diameter (deep water case). In the TxDOT project also, a new apparatus called the EFA (Erosion Function Apparatus) was conceived, built, patented, and commercialized to measure the erodibility of soils. The EFA test gives the erosion function for a soil and became an integral part of the SRICOS method (Scour Rate In COhesive Soils). The SRICOS-EFA method developed at the end of the TxDOT project predicted the scour depth as a function of time when a cylindrical pier founded in a layered soil was subjected to a long-term deep water flow-velocity hydrograph. In this NCHRP project, the SRICOS-EFA method was extended to the case of complex piers and contraction scour. Complex piers refer to piers with various shapes, various flow attack angles, various spacing between piers, and any water depth. Contraction refers to a narrowing of the flow channel by an embankment with a given encroachment length, a given embankment width, and a given transition angle.

Deep Foundations

UFC 3-220-01A
16 January 2004

This publication presents data, principles and method for use in planning, design and construction of deep foundations. Deep foundations are literally braced (supported) column elements transmitting structure loads down to the subgrade supporting medium.

General Information with respect to the selection and design of deep foundations is addressed herein. Single and groups of driven piles and drilled shafts under axial and lateral static loads are treated. Some example problems and the most widely accepted computer methods are introduced.

ELPLA

Click on the title above to download

ELPLA is a 32-bit, graphical software product that operates under Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT. The common "what you see is what you get" of Windows applications makes it easy to learn how to use ELPLA, especially if you are already familiar with the Windows environment.

Foundation Engineering:
In-the-Wet Design and Construction of Civil Works Projects

ETL 1110-2-565
30 Sep 2006

Constructing foundations in-the-wet has always presented challenges, uncertainties, and risks. Nevertheless, working in-the-wet presents not only difficulties, but also unique opportunities. Man has been dealing with both these difficulties and opportunities to install structural foundations in-the-wet since prehistoric times, and each new advance in foundation technology has resulted in the construction of ever more demanding foundations built in-the-wet, while keeping the level of risk at, or below, the threshold of acceptance for each new era of building.

In recent times engineers are minimizing risks: of delays, of cost over-runs, of claims, and of not being prepared to deal with changed subsurface conditions, by using advanced construction equipment and techniques, by minimizing the use of personnel, and by maximizing the use of prefabrication. Availability of large floating equipment has encouraged modern in-the-wet engineers to use large driven piles and drilled shafts (often socketed into rock). Indeed, offshore equipment has been used to install large diameter steel, concrete, and composite cylinder piles for major foundations in deep water and in difficult soils, safely, rapidly, and economically.

The challenge facing the modern engineer designing in-the-wet foundations is to minimize uncertainties by adequate investigation, and to minimize the risk, and the consequence of potential failures, by establishing criteria that result in redundant, flexible, and adjustable foundation designs that have benefited from the lessons learned from the past. This document is provided to assist the modern engineer in carrying on the tradition of past marine foundation success, to overcome the many challenges of in-the-wet foundation construction.

Foundations

Click on the document title above to download

NAVFAC DM 7.02 or DM 7.2
1 September 1986

Considered by many to be the best reference series on soil mechanics and foundations, although somewhat dated now. Published by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) in Norfolk, Virginia.

• EXCAVATIONS
  • Open Cuts
  • Trenching
  • Braced Excavations
  • Rock Excavation
  • Groundwater Control
  • Excavation Stabilization, Monitoring, and Safety
• COMPACTION, EARTHWORK, AND HYDRAULIC FILLS
  • Embankment Cross-Section Design
  • Compaction Requirements and Procedures
  • Embankment Compaction Control
  • Borrow Excavation
  • Hydraulic and Underwater Fills
• ANALYSIS OF WALLS AND RETAINING STRUCTURES
  • Computation of Wall Pressures
  • Rigid Retaining Walls
  • Design of Flexible Walls
  • Cofferdams
• SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS
  • Bearing Capacity
  • Spread Footing Design Considerations
  • Mat and Continuous Beam Foundations
  • Foundations on Engineered Fill
  • Foundations on Expansive Soils
  • Foundation Waterproofing
  • Uplift Resistance
• DEEP FOUNDATIONS
  • Foundation Types and Design Criteria
  • Bearing Capacity and Settlement
  • Pile Installation and Load Tests
  • Distribution of Loads on Pile Groups
  • Deep Foundations on Rock
  • Lateral Load Capacity

Foundations for Structures: Arctic and Subarctic Conditions

UFC 3-130-04
16 January 2004

This manual provides criteria and guidance for design of foundations for structures for military facilities in arctic and subarctic regions.

The design, construction and maintenance of foundations in these environments are all affected by special environmental conditions. These conditions typically include the following, as applicable:

• Seasonal freezing and thawing of ground with attendant frost heaving and other effects.
• Occurrence of permanently frozen ground subject to thawing and subsidence during and following construction.
• Special physical behavior and properties of frozen soil, rock, and construction materials at low temperatures and under freeze-thaw action.
• Difficulty of excavating and handling frozen ground. Poor drainage and possible excess of water during thaw caused by the presence of impervious frozen ground at shallow depths.
• Thermal stresses and cracking. Ice uplift and thrust action. Limited availability of natural construction materials, support facilities, and labor.
• Adverse conditions of temperature, wind, precipitation, distance, accessibility, working seasons, and cost.

While these factors are important in many other types of construction such as pavements and utilities, they merit separate consideration for foundations for structures.

Foundations in Expansive Soils

Click on the document title above to download

UFC 3-220-07
16 January 2004

Supercedes:
TM 5-818-7 September 1983 (still available)

This manual presents guidance and information for the geotechnical investigation necessary for the selection and design of foundations for heavy and light military-type buildings constructed in expansive clay soil areas. The information in this manual is generally applicable to many types of structures such as residences, warehouses, and multistory buildings. Emphasis is given to the maintenance of an environment that encourages constant moisture conditions in the foundation soils during and following construction. Special attention must always be given to specific requirements of the structure such as limitations on allowable differential movement.

Geotechnical Engineering Procedures for Foundation Design of Buildings and Structures

Unified Facilities Criteria UFC 3-220-01N
15 August 2005

Replaces NAVFAC DM 7.02, available above.

This UFC presents guidance for selecting and designing foundations for buildings and facilities of all types and associated features for buildings such as earth embankments and slopes, retaining structures, and machinery foundations. Foundations for hydraulic structures are not included; however, foundations design methods for piers, wharves and waterfront structures are covered. Foundation design differs considerably from design of other elements of a structure because of the interaction between the structure and the supporting medium (soil and rock). The soil and rock medium are highly variable as compared to steel and concrete products above the soil; therefore, much attention is given to presenting subsurface investigation methods to better determine the properties of the soil and rock. The seismic aspects of foundation design are presented in detail.

Design: General Building Requirements

UFC 1-200-01
31 July 2002

This UFC provides guidance for the use of model building codes for design and construction of Department of Defense (DOD) facilities. A special feature of this document is the extensive information on wind and seismic loading, which can be otherwise difficult to locate.

Grouting Methods and Equipment

UFC 3-220-06
16 January 2004

This manual was prepared to provide guidance in the use of pressure grouting as a means to correct existing or anticipated subsurface problems. Information on procedures, materials, and equipment for use in planning and executing a grouting project i’s included, and types of problems that might be solved by pressure grouting are discussed. Methods of pressure grouting that have proven to be effective are described, and various types of grouts and their properties are listed.

Prefabricated Vertical Drains

FHWA/RD-86/168
August 1986

This volume presents procedures and guidelines applicable to the design and installation of prefabricated vertical drains to accelerate consolidation of soils. The volume is intended to provide assistance to engineers in determining the applicability of PV drains to a given project and in the design of PV drain systems. The information contained herein is intended for use by civil engineers familiar with the fundamentals of soil mechanics and the principles of precompression.

The volume includes descriptions of types and physical characteristics of PV drains, discussion of design considerations, recommended design procedures, guideline specifications and comments pertaining to installation guidelines, construction control, and peformance evaluation.

Rock Foundations

Click on the document title above to download

EM 1110-1-2908
30 November 1994

This manual is intended to provide, where possible, a guided approach for the design of rock foundations. The concept of guided design provides for a stepped procedure for solving engineering problems that requires solution by decision making and judgment. Any design which involves rock masses requires a decision making process in which information must be obtained, considered, and reconciled before decisions and judgments can be made and supported. As such, the manual provides a stepped procedure for planning, collecting, and characterizing the information required to make intelligent decisions and value judgments concerning subsurface conditions, properties, and behavior. A fully coordinated team of geotechnical and structural engineers and engineering geologists are required to insure that rock foundationconditions and design are properly integrated into the overall design of the structure and that the completed final design of the structure is safe, efficient, and economical. Foundation characterization and design work should be guided by appropriate principles of rock mechanics.

Settlement Analysis

EM 1110-1-1904
30 September 1990

This manual presents guidelines for calculation of vertical displacements and settlement of soil under shallow foundations (mats and footings) supporting various types of structures and under embankments. It is one of the more comprehensive treatments of the subject, detailing procedures such as Schmertmann's method for settlement on cohesionless soils, Terzaghi consolidation theory and time rate of settlement for cohesive soils, a raft of "simplified" and alternative methods, and discussion of elastic theory as applied to foundations (Boussinesq theory.)