LRFD Calibration of Facing Limit States for Soil Nail Walls
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 11
Abstract
This paper presents the results of load and resistance factor design (LRFD) calibration of the facing limit states for soil nail walls. The current AASHTO facing load model and a modified model together with the AASHTO facing resistance models for both permanent and temporary facing load cases are considered. The facing design includes flexure, punching shear, and headed-stud tensile limit states. The calibration of resistance factors captures uncertainty in the accuracy of the load and resistance models, uncertainties in the nominal load and resistance values at time of design, and bias dependencies between model bias and nominal values. Resistance factors are calibrated for a range of load factors and target reliability indexes. Example designs for facing limit states demonstrate the implementation of the calibrated resistance factors in a LRFD framework using the current AASHTO and modified load models for the permanent facing load case. The practical values of this study are calibrated load and resistance factors for facing limit states of soil nail walls that are of interest to code writers for future editions of LRFD codes in the United States and Canada.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
Financial support for this study was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52008408) to the first author and is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are also grateful for financial support through an ENGAGE research grant awarded to the corresponding author by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 11 • November 2022
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© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Jul 8, 2021
Accepted: Jun 24, 2022
Published online: Sep 7, 2022
Published in print: Nov 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Feb 7, 2023
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