Seismic Design of Anchored Bulkheads: Tieback Bulkhead Example

Seismic design procedures and recommendations for bulkheads are sparse and can be inconsistent. Therefore, the Seismic Design of Bulkheads (SDB) Task Committee was established under the Ports and Harbors Committee of the Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The SDB Task Committee performed a comprehensive literature review, evaluated the current standard of practice, and developed a set of guidelines and recommendations for seismic design of planar flexible bulkheads, compiled in a manual of practice. To illustrate the manual’s application, an example design of a tieback bulkhead using both the limit equilibrium method and the soil spring method is provided. The example considers a large combi-bulkhead retaining multiple layers of liquefiable soils. This paper presents the manual’s example and describes the process of developing the geotechnical forces and applying the forces to the structural elements of the bulkhead in accordance with the manual’s recommendations.