31 50 00 Excavation Support and Protection

31 50 00 Excavation Support and Protection

Anchor Tiebacks

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Anchor tiebacks are the lateral support structure for a bulkhead (or wall).  Bulkheads are most commonly made of steel, concrete, or wood sheet pile.  Sheet piles are long flat sections of construction material that interlock longitudinally but are set vertically to form a thin wall.  Marine bulkheads retain landside soils along their back face, and serve as a shield against erosion from water action along their front face.  Bulkheads known as "fill bulkheads" can also be completely constructed on land.  These may separate one type of soil or work site from an adjacent one, often at different elevations, or brace one side of an excavation, to provide soil slope stability.  The bottom edge of a bulkhead’s sheet piles are sunk or driven into the underlying soil.

Slurry Walls

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When site constraints do not permit cheaper and more traditional excavation methods, constructing slurry walls provides an alternative method of casting concrete in place below the surface elevation. Slurry walls, used for the construction of basement walls and other below grade foundation elements, do not require formwork and excavation side bracing.  Instead, a thin trench is dug into the site soils which exactly matches the thickness and depth of the new below grade wall.