ACADEMIA Letters

Damage to masonry retaining walls caused by capillarity

Luciano Nunziante, Full Professor of Structural Mechanics on leave. University of
Naples Federico II. Naples, Italy

Summary
This paper deals with the causes of the damage found on many retaining walls built with blocks
of soft tuff, porous stones or bricks. The damage affects the external faceand is manifested
by the crumbling of the wall at a certain height from the ground, resulting in the expulsion of
parts of the wall and of the protective plaster coating.
The cause of the damage is capillarity which forces the moisture present in the underlying
ground to rise up to a certain height within the wall, which is made up of porous and permeable
material that contains voids.
Rising water in micrometric capillaries brings about dissolved salts, along with molecules
of water which in certain ventilation/sunny conditions evaporate, causing efflorescence on the
external face of the wall. Efflorescence is the salts crystalline phase, which increases in volume
and determines the pressure within the pores of masonry which then leads to a break-down
and erosion of the material.
The wall loses layers of material, thus diminishing the section and the strength of the lower
part of the wall and strongly reducing its safety, as is shown by means of a non-linear analysis.

Damage caused by capillary rising damp and efflorescence

Extensive damage and erosion is often observed on the external face of retaining walls built
with blocks of soft tuff, porous stones or bricks, as shown by [Figs.1, 2]. This damage affects

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Luciano Nunziante, nunsci42@gmail.com

Citation: Nunziante, L. (2021). Damage to masonry retaining walls caused by capillarity. Academia Letters,
Article 1854. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1854.

1
the external siding which causes the wall to crumble at a certain height from the ground,
resulting in the expulsion of parts of the wall and of the protective plaster coating.
The damage is due to capillarity, since the moisture present underground rises up to a
certain height in the internal communicating pores of material.

Fig.1

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Corresponding Author: Luciano Nunziante, nunsci42@gmail.com

Citation: Nunziante, L. (2021). Damage to masonry retaining walls caused by capillarity. Academia Letters,
Article 1854. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1854.

2
 Fig.2

The rise of moisture in the walls is influenced by the porosity of the calcareous and vol-
canic stones. Permeability of the wall, which depends on the flow of liquid capable of passing
through the body, also contributes to the rise of water by capillarity.
The amount of water that rises by capillarity in the walls, and the height of the area affected
by the rise, depend on the size of the capillaries, the porosity and permeability of the material,
which are activated by seasonal climatic cycles of rainfall, or by the strength of the water soil’s
source. [E.Washburn, 1921].
The real cause of the phenomenon lies in the fact that the water that rises in the wall
brings with it some salts, usually chlorides or sulphates and nitrates, along with some water
molecules so called “of cristallization”, that at a certain height in the wall are lost by evapo-
ration, resulting in typical efflorescence [Fig. 3].

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Luciano Nunziante, nunsci42@gmail.com

Citation: Nunziante, L. (2021). Damage to masonry retaining walls caused by capillarity. Academia Letters,
Article 1854. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1854.

3
 Fig.3

The saline efflorescence is produced by the crystallization of some salts (chlorides, sul-
phates and nitrates), which increase their volume during the transition to the solid/crystalline
phase, so that the pressure inside the pores of masonry disintegrates the material.
At the foot of the walls where this phenomenon occurs, one can observe dust from the
erosion of the constituent material Figs.1,2,4]. The salts rising up inside the walls may come
from the ground (nitrates and chlorides, from organic compounds) or from atmospheric de-
posits (chlorides and sulphates sometimes coming from sea salt-smog) or even from some
construction materials (sulphates, gypsum…) or from other random causes that determine
infiltrations.
The degradation can erode the wall up to considerable depths to the order of decimeters
[Figs.1,2,4], and ultimately decreases its section, reducing its strength. The reduction of the
section of the wall due to the progressive loss of surface layers of material, occurs in the lower
part of the wall, which is more stressed due to the acting loads and the soil’s thrust. Over time,
this gradually creates a redistribution of the stresses present in the wall, which aggravates the
structure’s stresses thus reducing its safety coefficient.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Luciano Nunziante, nunsci42@gmail.com

Citation: Nunziante, L. (2021). Damage to masonry retaining walls caused by capillarity. Academia Letters,
Article 1854. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1854.

4
 Fig.4

In scientific literature, the issue of reducing the resistance of tuff or brick masonry, due
to the rising water by capillarity, has not yet been treated with the importance due to this
phenomenon which, as documented, determines macroscopic reductions in sections of these
structures.

Reduction in strength and safety of walls due to the damage from

rising damp/efflorescence
As described above, the phenomenon of the deterioration of the external face of the wall, due
to the rising damp, accompanied by the formation of saline efflorescence, can lead to critical
conditions for the wall’s safety. In fact, the progressive erosion that occurs within the foot
area on the external face of the wall, can quickly cause safety issues.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Luciano Nunziante, nunsci42@gmail.com

Citation: Nunziante, L. (2021). Damage to masonry retaining walls caused by capillarity. Academia Letters,
Article 1854. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1854.

5
 Fig.5

The static analysis of a retaining wall, such as the one depicted in [Fig. 5], is governed by
Rankine’s theory of the earth’s thrust (Rankine, 1856) acting in the rear section with active
pressure ps, based on the calculation of the axial stress N(z) present in the wall (per unit
of longitudinal length) and of the bending moment M(z) deriving from the embankment’s
thrust S(z) [Terzaghi,1996] resulting from the given pressures ps, along with the symbology
introduced in the figure, respectively by:

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Luciano Nunziante, nunsci42@gmail.com

Citation: Nunziante, L. (2021). Damage to masonry retaining walls caused by capillarity. Academia Letters,
Article 1854. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1854.

6
 Fig.6

The safety assessment of the wall was carried out under the hypothesis of “no tension
material” for the masonry, very realistic in the case of tuff blocks bound by mortars of low
tensile strength.
In the lower part of the wall, there is a no tension material condition, with compression
stresses increasing at the outer face of the wall that can cause its collapse, as was verified by
non-linear structural stress analysis [Nunziante, 2001].
[Fig.5] represents the diagrams of normal stresses sz existing on the sections at different
heights of the wall, with the lower part being partialized.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Luciano Nunziante, nunsci42@gmail.com

Citation: Nunziante, L. (2021). Damage to masonry retaining walls caused by capillarity. Academia Letters,
Article 1854. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1854.

7
 As an example, the numerical analysis was conducted on a soft tuff retaining wall in an
embankment with geometric and mechanical characteristics provided by the following data:

A maximum tension value of Sm = 10.70 N cm-2 is reached at the foot of the wall. The
trend of the maximum compression stresses Sm (z) present on the external face of the wall is
shown in [Fig.5].
In the case of an intact wall made up of soft tuff stone, the local safety coefficient with
respect to the crisis value S0 is worth s = 20/10.7 = 1.87.
The non-linear structural analysis of the stresses has been extended to the wall deteriorated
with loss of material on the outer face up to a depth of 10 cm.
This reduction of the section corresponds to approximately 1/14 of the total thickness of
the wall, a hypothesis compatible with the experimental evidence of hundreds of retaining
walls analyzed.
The resulting reduction of the section of the wall occurs in the band of the outer face, from
the height z = h0 = 30 cm to the height z = h1 = 50 cm.
A non-linear structural analysis was conducted in the presence of the combined actions of
the weights and active thrust [Nunziante, 2009]. This takes into account the reduction of the
section, resulting in a modest reduction of the axial stress, but with the increase of the bending
moment due to the increased eccentricity of the normal load due to the shift of the center of
gravity of the residual resistant section of the wall.
The result of the structural analysis provided the trend of the maximum compressive
stresses acting on the outer face of the entire wall Sm (z) [Fig.5].
Increased stresses Smd (z)of the damaged wall are represented by the height of the wall
ranging between the elevations h0 and h1 , and highlighted with hatching. Ultimately, the
effects of the damage caused on the wall by the phenomenon of capillarity/efflorescence can
be summarized as follows:

• The intact wall shows a local safety coefficient for stresses greater than s = 2.63.

• The maximum compression stresses in the damaged wall are increased by values of
about 60%, so that the safety factor reduces the value to s = 1.6 with a safety loss of
about 32%. The results of structural analysis presented here, refers to common struc-
tural situations of retaining walls found in the field, and show that even small reduc-
tions in sections due to damage from capillarity/efflorescence, can greatly increase the
stresses acting on the wall, reducing its safety. In several observed cases the reduction
of structural safety is far worse than that shown here.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Luciano Nunziante, nunsci42@gmail.com

Citation: Nunziante, L. (2021). Damage to masonry retaining walls caused by capillarity. Academia Letters,
Article 1854. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1854.

8
Conclusions
This work dealt with the phenomenon of damage found on hundreds of retaining walls built
with blocks of tuff or other porous stones, which affect the lower external face of the wall with
expulsion of parts and of the protective plaster coating.
This is due to rising of moisture by capillarity in the wall up a certain height, where
evaporation occurs. The salts dissolved into the water lose some water molecules, resulting
in typical efflorescence, thus increasing in volume and producing a pressure inside the pores
which disintegrates the material.
The wall is damaged up to considerable depths to the order of decimeters, diminishing its
section with reduction of strength.
The damage aggravates the stress state due to acting loads and to the soil’s thrust, and
reduces the wall’s safety coefficient.
A non-linear structural analysis of a retaining wall with usual characteristics shows that,
even small reductions of approximately 10/20% in sections due to damage from capillarity
effect/efflorescence, could increase by about 60%, the stresses in the retaining wall, greatly
compromising its safety.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Luciano Nunziante, nunsci42@gmail.com

Citation: Nunziante, L. (2021). Damage to masonry retaining walls caused by capillarity. Academia Letters,
Article 1854. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1854.

9
References
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online 21 October 2009.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Luciano Nunziante, nunsci42@gmail.com

Citation: Nunziante, L. (2021). Damage to masonry retaining walls caused by capillarity. Academia Letters,
Article 1854. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1854.

10