Soil dragging on anchor rods due to settlements

The settlement of soil layers on embedded anchor rods may lead to an increased axial load in the rod. The common method of evaluating stresses in anchor rods, according to the Dutch Sheet Piling handbook, better known as CUR 166, implicitly assumes a number of simplifications and assumptions that may in practice lead to a too simplified approach, that is too conservative. Within the context of study for an MSc degree, the main author of this paper has looked into the possibilities to improve the method of evaluation that complies with al codes and is less conservative. The study both looks into drained and undrained conditions for settling clay. Further, the settlement is more explicitly defined as a function of local position at the anchor rod. The method is verified with FEM analysis using Embedded beams, which gave a good corroboration. The method enables to perform an improved design.