COUNTERFORT

A typical interior panel of a counterfort retaining wall of horizontal span 3.00m and
effective depth 6.00m is considered. The panel is modeled in STAAD using square plate
elements of size 300mm, with assuming fixity at both lateral sides and bottom, the top
being free. Phi is taken as 30 degrees and the dry density 20kN/m 3 for the retained
dense soil. The bending moment (My) variation at the centre of the stem along the
vertical axis, from bottom to top is graphically represented below (Height from bottom
along X axis and vertical BM value along Y axis):

It can be seen that the bottom of the stem experiences a high value of hogging moment
(cantilever action) in the vertical direction, but it dies out rapidly, at a minimal height
from bottom ( nowhere near H/4 or H/3). Immediately thereafter, the sagging moment
reaches its peak value, which is much less than the maximum hogging moment. This
gradually gets reduced as we further move towards the top.
The distribution of vertical and horizontal moments across the stem is pictorially
represented below (+ value indicates hogging moment and – value, sagging moment,
which is the sign convention for STAAD) :

MY (local)
kNm/ m
<=-4.34
-3.44
-2.53
-1.63
-0.719
0.187
1.09
2
2.91
3.81
4.72
5.63
6.53
7.44
8.34
9.25
>=10.2

Y
Z X
Load 1

Distribution of My (Vertical Moment) in one panel of the stem

MX (local)
kNm/ m
<=-8.13
-6.85
-5.57
-4.28
-3
-1.72
-0.437
0.845
2.13
3.41
4.69
5.97
7.26
8.54
9.82
11.1
>=12.4

Y
Z X
Load 1

Distribution of Mx (Horizontal Moment) in one panel of the stem