B
Publish and Present
Joseph Galloway, P.E.
Senior Project Manager
WSP
Federal Way, Washington
Chad Goodnight, P.E., PhD
Senior Engineer
BergerABAM
Federal Way, Washington
Pooja Jain, P.E., S.E.
Senior Project Manager
Moffatt & Nichol
Seattle, Washington
.jpg "Monique Anderson, P.E. photo")
Monique Anderson, P.E.
Senior Associate
Shannon & Wilson, Inc.
Mountlake Terrace, Washington
Stuart Stringer, P.E., S.E.
Project Engineer
Moffatt & Nichol
Seattle, Washington
Stephen Dickenson, PhD, P.E., D.P.E., M.ASCE
Geotechnical Engineer
New Albion Geotechnical, Inc.
Arul Arulmoli, PhD, P.E., G.E., D.GE, F.ASCE
Principal
Earth Mechanics, Inc.
Fountain Valley, California
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.