Case Study
MSD Shiva Court – Wildwood, St. Louis, MO
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Project Overview
Construction of a block retaining wall was required for protection of stream bank during storm events. While soils were determined to be competent and able to stand at near vertical cuts, the risk of toe cutting and subsequent instability and mass wasting during increased flow from storm events forced MSD to require temporary shoring to eliminate those risks.
Options for shoring included, but was limited to: sheet pile, soldier pile with sheeting, braced sheeting, soil nailing, and tiered multi-plane shoring. Sheet piling, soldier piles or any sort of bracing required removal after the wall had been constructed.
Solution
Upon temporary wall evaluation and weighing options, Platipus S6 ARGS assembly (1-ton rated) was selected to be installed on a 4’ horizontal by 4’ vertical spaced grid pattern. Anchors were installed perpendicular to slope face, driven to 12’ depth, and tensioned to the design working load of 1,100 lbs. using a Platipus SJ3 hydraulic load jack. The excavation and shoring was directed by the designing engineer to be constructed from the top down, in 4’ vertical lifts. The facing on the cut included a nonwoven filter fabric, a geogrid layer, a W4.0 x W4.0 Welded Wire Fabric, with point loading spread using 4” x 4” x 24” long timber restraints. The terminating end of the wire steel tendon included a 5” diameter 14 gauge stainless steel load plate and stainless steel conical wedge grip.
The contractor enjoyed significant cost savings over conventional shoring options.
