Ground anchors help prevent horizontal movement and ensure the stability of retaining structures. Ground anchors are used in steel sheet pile, steel tubular pile, and bored concrete pile walls. Anchors may also be used to stabilise existing retaining walls and bridge abutments.
As with Steel sheet piles, ground anchors can be temporary or permanent, depending on the application – anchors can be ‘passive’ or pre-stressed to 110% of the working load.
In cases where the retained height is too great for a steel sheet piles or bored concrete piles to act in cantilever, additional support can be gained by the use of anchors. Typical applications include retaining walls for highway widening schemes and tie-backs for river and dock walls.
Similarly, tendons may be used to tie a retaining wall to anchor piles, king posts or a second retaining wall in the same manner as a ground anchor, providing extra support where ground anchors may be unsuitable, due to bad ground conditions or site restriction.
