RETAINING WALLS

Questions for assignment files – explain with sketches

1. What is retaining wall and where it is necessary?

2. Explain with sketches different part of retaining wall
3. Types of retailing wall
4. Forces acting on retailing wall
5. Proportions in different types of retaining wall
6. Angle of repose and its use in designing retaining wall
7. Causes and modes of failure of retaining wall
8. Construction joints in retaining wall
9. Precast retaining wall – Use, advantages and disadvantages
10. Wire mesh gabions and other types of retaining walls
 RETAINING WALL

Basic function – to retain

soil at a slope which is
greater than it would
naturally assume, usually
at a vertical or near
vertical position
Terminology of Retaining Wall
Angle of Repose
The natural slope taken up by any soil is called its angle
of repose and is measured in relation ship to the
horizontal

It is the wedge of soil resting on this upper plane of the

angle of repose which a retaining wall has to support
ANGLE OF REPOSE
 The angle of repose or the critical angle of repose, of
a granular material is the steepest angle of descent
or dip relative to the horizontal plane to which a
material can be piled without slumping. The angle of
repose can range from 0° to 90°
 At this angle, the material on the slope face is on the
verge of sliding.
The design of retaining wall is basically concerned
with the lateral pressures of the retained soil and
any subsoil water

Greater the angle of repose of a material, the less

is the pressure exerted
Increased pressures must be allowed for when
a. there is a surcharge or
b. when there are buildings or traffic carrying roads near the
top of the wall
Design of retaining wall
 Retaining walls have primary function of retaining soils
at an angle in excess of the soil’s nature angle of
repose.
 Walls within the design height range are designed to
provide the necessary resistance by either their own
mass or by the principles of leverage.
 Design consideration:
1. Overturning of the wall does not occur
2. Forward sliding does not occur
3. Materials used are suitable
4. The subsoil is not overloaded
Earth Pressures on Retaining wall

 Pressure at rest
 Active earth pressure
 Passive earth pressure

Pressure at Rest
 This is the case when wall
has a considerable rigidity.
 Basement walls generally
fall in this category.
Active Earth Pressure
 If a retaining wall is allowed to move away from the
soil accompanied by a lateral soil expansion, the
earth pressure decreases with the increasing
expansion.
 A shear failure of the soil is resulted with any further
expansion and a sliding wedge tends to move
forward and downward. The earth pressure
associated with this state of failure is the minimum
pressure and is known as active earth pressure.
Passive Earth Pressure
 If a retaining wall is allowed to move towards the soil
accompanied by a lateral soil compression, the earth
pressure increase with the increasing compression in the
soil.
Factors which designer need
to take account
 Nature and characteristics of the subsoil's
 Height of water table – the presence of
water can create hydrostatic pressure,
affect bearing capacity of the subsoil
together with its shear strength, reduce the
frictional resistance between the underside
of the foundation
 Type of wall
 Materials to be used in the construction
Forces acting on Retaining
Wall
FORCES ACTING ON A RETAINING WALL

The designer is mainly concerned with the effect of two forms

of earth pressure- active & passive
STABILITY OF RETAINING WALLS

The overall stability of a retaining wall is governed by the

action and reaction of a number of loads
Active pressure is exerted by the retained material &
water pressure on the back of the wall

Passive pressures are the induced loads at the toe

and the friction between the underside of the base
and the soil

Ground water behind a retaining wall can have

adverse effects upon the design and stability of the
retaining wall
Typical dimensions of different types of
retaining wall
 Types of walls

 Mass retaining walls / Gravity Retaining Wall

 Cantilever walls
 Counterfort retaining walls
 Precast concrete retaining walls
 Precast concrete crib-retaining walls
 Backfill Backfill

Mass retaining L-Shaped RW

Wall / Gravity T-Shaped RW
RW

Backfill
Counterfort Buttress

Counterfort RW Buttress RW
 Mass retaining walls

 Sometimes called gravity walls

and rely upon their own mass
therefore, is rather massive in
size.
 Mass itself, together with the
friction on the underside of the
base to overcome the tendency
to slide or overturn
 Generally only economic up to
1.8 m
 Mass walls can be constructed of
semi-engineering quality bricks
bedded in a 1:3 cement mortar or
of mass concrete
 Natural stone is suitable for small walls up to 1m high but
generally it is used as a facing material for walls over 1
m, and occasionally constructed in plain concrete
 The thickness of wall is also governed by need to
eliminate or limit the resulting tensile stress to its
permissible limit .
 Plain concrete gravity walls are not used for heights
exceeding about 3m, for obvious economic reasons.
 Stress developed is very low.
 These walls are so proportioned that no tension is
developed anywhere and the resultant of forces remain
within the middle third of the base.
Typical example of mass
retaining walls

BRICK MASS RETAINING WALL

Typical example of mass
retaining walls

MASS CONCRETE RETAINING WALL

WITH STONE FACINGS
 Brick retaining
wall

Stone retaining wall

Semi-Gravity Walls

 Semi-gravity walls resist

external forces by the
combined action of self
weight, weight of soil
above footing and the
flexural resistance of the
wall components.
 Concrete cantilever wall is
an example and consists
of a reinforced concrete
stem and a base footing.
 These walls are non-
proprietary.
Cantilever walls

 Usually of reinforced concrete and

work on the principle of leverage
where the stem is designed as a
cantilever fixed at the base and the
base is designed as a cantilever
fixed at the stem
 Economic height range of 1.2 m to
6 m using pre-stressing techniques
 Any durable facing material can be
applied to the surface to improve
appearance of the wall
 Two basic forms:-
 A base with a large heel
 A cantilever with a large toe

Cantilever T Cantilever L
T- Shaped Cantilever walls
 The structure consists of vertical stem , and a base slab,
made up of two distinct regions, viz., a heel slab and a
toe slab
 “Stem” acts as a vertical cantilever under the lateral
earth pressure
 “Heel slab” acts as a horizontal
cantilever under the action of weight
of the retained earth (minus soil
pressure acting upwards from
below)
 “Toe slab ” acts as a cantilever
under the action of resulting soil
pressure acting upward.
L- Shaped Cantilever walls

 It resists the horizontal earth pressure as well as

other vertical pressure by way of bending of various
components acting as cantilevers.
Shear Key for
additional stability
Counterfort retaining walls

 Can be constructed of reinforced or prestressed

concrete
 Suitable for over 7 m
 Stem and Heel slab are strengthened by providing
counterforts at some suitable intervals.
 The stability of the wall is maintained essentially by the
weight of the earth on the heel slab plus the self weight
of the structure.
 Counterfort wall are placed at regular intervals of
about1/3 to ½ of the wall height, interconnecting the
stem with the heel slab
 The counterforts are concealed within the retained earth
on the rear side of the wall.
 For large heights, in a cantilever retaining
wall, the bending moments developed in the
stem, heel slab and toe slab become very
large and require large thickness.
 The bending moments can be considerably
reduced by introducing transverse supports,
called counterforts.
 The counterforts subdivide the
vertical slab (stem) into rectangular
panels and support them on two
sides(suspender-style), and
themselves behave essentially as
vertical cantilever beams of T-
section and varying depth.
Counterfort Retaining Wall

Butress Retaining Wall

Precast concrete retaining
wall
 Manufactured from high-grade pre cast concrete on the
cantilever principle.
 Can be erected on a foundation as permanent
retaining wall or be free standing to act as dividing wall
between heaped materials which it can increase three
times the storage volume for any given area
 Other advantages- reduction in time by eliminating
curing period, cost of formwork, time to erect and
dismantle the temporary forms
 Lifting holes are provided which can be utilized for
fixing if required
Application
Precast concrete retaining
walls
Pre cast concrete crib-
retaining walls
 Designed on the principle of mass retaining walls
 A system of pre cast concrete or treated timber
components comprising headers and stretchers which
interlock to form a 3 dimensional framework or crib of pre
cast concrete timber units within which soil is retained
 Constructed with a face batter between 1:6 and 1:8
 Subsoil drainage is not required since the open face
provides adequate drainage.
PRE CAST CONCRETE CRIB
RETAINING WALL
BASEMENT WALLS
 REVETMENTS
GABIONS RIP RAP
Active System with the mesh Passive System with simple
anchored on the rock facing. drapery system.
Provisions for Joints in the Construction
of Walls
Cast concrete retaining walls may be constructed with any
or all of the following joints:
Construction Joints:
These are vertical or horizontal joints that are used
between two successive pours of concrete. Keys are used
to increase the shear resistance at the joint. If keys are not
used, the surface of the first pour is cleaned and
roughened before the next placement of concrete. Keys are
almost always formed in the base to give the stem added
sliding resistance. The base is formed first, and the stem
constructed afterwards
Contraction joint
These are vertical joints or grooves formed or cut into the
wall that allows the concrete to shrink without noticeable
harm. Contraction joints are usually about 0.25 inches wide
and about ½ to ¾ inch deep, and are provided at intervals
of not exceeding 30 feet.
Expansion Joints:
Vertical expansion joints are incorporated into the wall to
account for expansion due to temperature changes. These
joints may be filled with flexible joint fillers. Greased steel
dowels are often cast horizontally into the wall to tie
adjacent sections together. Expansion joints should be
located at intervals up to 90 feet.
Backfill Drainage of Retaining Walls

One area that can be commonly overlooked, or at least

underestimated, is the necessity to drain the backfill of
rainwater and/or groundwater. Hydrostatic pressure can
cause or induce retaining wall failure, or at least damage.
Drainage of water as a result of rainfall or other wet
conditions is very important to the stability of a retaining
wall. Without proper drainage the backfill can become
saturated, which has the dual impact of increasing the
pressure on the wall and lessening the resistance of the
backfill material to sliding. Granular backfill material
offers the benefits of good drainage, easy compaction,
and increased sliding resistance.
Drainage systems usually utilize weep holes and
drainage lines.

Weep holes actually penetrate the retaining wall and drain

the area immediately behind the wall. Weep holes should
have a minimum diameter so as to permit free drainage; for
large walls, 4 inch weep holes are common. Adequate
spacing between weep holes allows uniform drainage from
behind the wall. Weep holes should always have some kind
of filter material between the wall and the backfill to prevent
fines migration, weep hole clogging, and loss of backfill and
caving.

Drainage lines are often perforated and wrapped in geo

textile or buried in a granular filter bed, and serve to carry
water to the weep holes from areas deeper within the backfill.
 Weepers
Or
Weep Holes

Sand + Stone Filter

Drainage Pipes f 100-200 mm @ 2.5 to 4

m Perforated
Pipe

Suited for short walls

Five Modes of Failure

Sliding Failure

Overturning
Failure
Bearing capacity
Failure
Shallow shear
Failure

Deep shear Failure

The design of retaining wall
must ensure there is no
1.Failure due to overturning
2.Failure due to sliding
3.Failure due to bending

The resultant thrust on the soil

should be in the middle third of
the base
 Sliding Failure

Sliding failure is nothing but sliding of wall away from backfill

when there is shearing failure at the base of wall
The Factor of safety against sliding is:-

R Of resultant Vertical & horizontal components:-

RV& RH of weight of wall & earth pressure

µ = coefficient of friction = tan δ

 Overturning failure

Overturning failure is rotation of wall about its toe due to

exceeding of moment caused due to overturning forces
to resisting forces
:-The Factor of safety against overturning is given by

= sum of resisting moment about toe

= sum of overturning moment about toe
Bearing capacity failure

The pressure exerted by resultant vertical force at toe of wall

must not exceed the allowable bearing capacity of the soil ,
the pressure distribution is assumed to be linear

The maximum pressure is given by :

:The Factor of safety against bearing failure is