Ground Anchors

New retaining structures are being asked to work harder in the drive for thinner profile retaining walls and lower materials costs. Any retaining structure can be greatly assisted by adding one or more ‘props’. Though commonly at the top, generally this can be at any sensible level to reduce the bending moments in the wall section, and therefore reduce the section thickness and steel content.

These ‘props’ are commonly provided by ground anchors and are utilised in a number of ways to give strength to a new or existing structure. A small diameter bar or tendon is drilled through the face of the wall and anchored into stronger material remote from the structure. This strength is then spread across the structure using a capping beam or ‘waler’ that incorporates the anchor heads along the wall.

Our drilling rigs are capable of drilling vertically or at any angle to a retaining wall, enabling our optimised design solution to be addressed in each case, regardless of the restrictions on access available. Restricted access drilling rigs can be used in tight corners.

Increasingly, due to age, poor workmanship, repair or changing ground conditions, existing structures are being assessed as either outside their design life, or even on the brink of collapse. Foundation Piling can install Ground Anchors into these structures to offer immediate support and an extended design life in precisely the same manner. Access problems are dealt with safely with a suitable scaffold platform to assemble and install the anchor elements; the anchors can even be drilled over the top of a wall from a machine standing on the top.