A quick and lightweight method and equipment for supporting a trench excavation.

 

Vertical shoring consists of hydraulic cylinders attached to aluminum rails that are 2’, 3.5’, 5.0’, 7.0’ and larger sizes. Spacing of vertical units can vary from 4’ to 6’ depending upon the soil. The hydraulic cylinders are hydraulic but use a water with an additive and they are pressurized using a hand pump.

Hydraulic walers consist of hydraulic cylinders attached to aluminum walers that are 6’, 8’, 10’ and some longer sizes. They are used in conjunction with traditional sheeting materials such as steel sheeting, wood sheeting and aluminum sheeting. The completed system is similar to vertical wood sheeting but is much faster to install and safer because the equipment and materials are certified for quality.

Hydraulic aluminum boxes consist of aluminum walers, hydraulic cylinders and box walls made from aluminum panels or aluminum sheeting. Sizes range from 6’, 8’, 10’, 12’, 14’ and some larger sizes. The boxes are lightweight and provide positive pressure to the excavation wall for many utility installations. 

Hydraulic shoring has been around since the 1950’s and it has been used successfully on thousands of projects around North America. If you have an application, contact a NAXSA Member for ideas and equipment.

Trench boxes are strong, portable and they have been in use since the 1950’s. They are made of fabricated steel walls or aluminum walls. The cross braces or spreaders are made of steel pipes, box beams or structural steel. 

Steel boxes consist of based box walls from 6’ to 30’ long and with most walls having knife edges on the bottom of the wall to assist installation. In addition, the base walls usually come in 6’, 8’ and 10’ high dimensions. The base walls can be increased by using extension walls that are usually 4’ high. Most steel boxes use 5” and 8” diameter steel pipe to supply trench widths of 24” to 20’. 

Aluminum boxes are either made of fabricated box walls or extruded panels. The most popular aluminum boxes in use today are modular and consist of extruded panels that are pinned together with steel spreaders to form a trench box, three-sided box, or a four-sided pit system. This is equipment is lightweight, modular, and very portable. The panels are usually 2’ high and in lengths of 3’, 4’, 6’, 8’, 10’, 12’, 14’ and some longer sizes. These component systems can be assembled to form systems that can shore excavations from 5’ to 20’ deep.

Stone boxes are fabricated containers for use on projects to hold pipe foundation stone. The use of these boxes dramatically reduces the waste of expensive foundation stone. These boxes are usually provided in 6, 8, 9, 10 and 12 cubic yard sizes.

Slide rail systems are a modular tight sheeting system that can be installed with a small crew and your excavator. This method has been used on projects all over the World since the 1950’s and was introduced to North America in the late 1970’s. It is a tight sheeting system capable of supporting the excavation from the top of ground to the excavation sub-grade providing protection to all adjacent utilities, structure foundations and installation workers.

Slide rail system designs use single rails, double rails, and triple rails. The more rails in the rail design increases the strength of the rail. This is particularly useful as the pipe or structures increase in size and installation depth. Rails vary in length from 10’, 13’, 15’, 18’, 22’ 26’ (Base Rails) and (Extension Rails) vary from 6’ to 10’.
 

Slide rail panels that interlock with the rails are fabricated walls consisting of Base Plates with knife edges in lengths of 6’ to 24’ and vertical dimensions of 6’ and 8’. Extension plates are fabricated with the same design as the base plates (no knife edges on extension plates) and they can interlock to the base plates to form steel walls that support the excavation walls. Depending upon the rail used, each track accepts a steel wall and passes the other steel walls like a double hung window (telescopic) so that you can dig deeper and deeper while constantly supporting the previously excavated material.

The plates and rails form shoring modules using cross braces that are a modular design so they can provide a number of excavation widths. System cross bracing is not fixed but designed to allow the excavator to advance the equipment into the ground as the excavation proceeds. Two bracing concepts dominate the slide rail designs currently used. One uses fixed position bracing and the other uses a rolling brace that can move up and down the rail as the system is pushed into the ground. System bracing varies from 3’ wide to over 35’ wide. Since a slide rail system is cantilever design (no toe required) the work area below the bottom brace is important depending on what pipe or structure is being installed. The cantilever dimension varies depending on the soil pressure, lining plate size, bottom brace design and the rail strength. The number of tracks in the rail being used increases the strength of the rail. 

 

Slide Rail Systems are considered tight steel sheeting (they are not water-tight). On many projects they have been approved as “steel sheeting driven and pulled” and have been paid per square foot at the bid price for that item.

Slide Rail Systems can be configured in trenches of unlimited length from depths of 5’ to 35’. They can be assembled and installed in hundreds of pit configurations for tank, package pump stations, tunnel installs, bridge footings, retaining walls and more.

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NAXSA has many Members who have extensive experience with Slide Rail Systems. Use our on-line Member Locator to assist you with finding a NAXSA Member who can discuss options and availability.