Cave-Ins of Sandy Backfills

The other papers in this program have dealt principally with various laboratory and design aspects of lateral earth pressures against bulkheads. In applying experimental and theoretical knowledge to the building of actual structures, the engineer is never quite sure just how conservative his designs and construction procedures have been unless there is some visible sign of distress or actual failure. Since such occurrences help to build up the fund of practical judgment, Commander Coxe and the writer reasoned that it would be of interest to discuss a few jobs that gave disappointing results. This paper concerns a case involving a nonplastic sandy backfill whereas the last Symposium paper by Commander Coxe describes a job that involved plastic soils.