Retaining Walls 1

STRUCTURAL DESIGN & DRAWING
Course Teacher
Syed Salman Mobeen

Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
NEDUET
RETAINING WALLS
❖ Retaining Walls ….. What Are These?
➢ Retaining of Any Material Requires a Retainer Or
a Container.
➢ A Retainer actually Retains Whatever is Meant to
be Retained through it.
➢ Examples of Containers / Retainers in Structural
Engineering are:
High Embankments
Level Differences
High Level Differences

Dams
Dams / Water Channels

Dams / Water Retaining

❖ Dam’s Retaining Walls
Gravity Dams
Swimming Pools
Huge Aquariums
Under ground Tanks

❖ Retaining Walls ….. What is Inside?
➢ What happens if Any Retainer Or a Container
Retains a Material ?
➢ The Retained Material Exerts Pressure on the

Walls of the Container or Retainer.
➢ In this Course Mostly the Retained Material is

Soil and the Retainer is the RCC Retaining Wall.
❖ Ideal Retaining Walls
Sections of Retaining Walls

❖ Other Forms of Retaining Walls
Under Pass
❖ Basements
Basements Retaining Wall

❖ Therefore a Retaining Wall is ……..
➢ It Retains a material on its back, which sometimes
called Backfill.
➢ The Material may be Soil, Water, Fluids, Natural
Oars, Grains, etc. …
➢ But In this Course We Will Discuss the Backfill of
Soil and May be Water.
TYPES of RETAINING WALLS
By Their Function & Behavior

❖ Types of Retaining Walls
❖ Other Different Forms of Retaining Walls
Simplest Forms of Retaining Walls

❖ Basements
❖ Elements Of Cantilever Retaining Walls
Stem
Heel
Toe
Shear Key
❖ Cantilever Retaining Walls
DESIGN of RETAINING WALLS

❖ Design of Retaining Walls
➢ How Any Structural Element is Designed ?

➢ By Looking at its Behavior Under Loads
➢ Note Down The Forces Acting On it, Its Supporting
Conditions & Behavior of its Different Elements.
➢ We Need to Identify Different Elements of a retaining
Wall.
❖ Forces Acting on Retaining Walls
Weight of Soil
Passive Earth Pressure

Lateral Active Earth Pressure
Reaction Earth Pressure

❖ Behavior of Cantilever Retaining Wall
➢ How will Different
Elements of Wall
Behave? Weight of Soil
Passive Earth
Lateral Active Earth
Pressure
Pressure
Reaction Earth
Pressure
❖ Behavior of Retaining Wall
➢ How will Different Elements of Wall Behave?
❖ Behavior is Well Understood By Deformed
Shape of Retaining Wall
Lateral Active
Earth Pressure
Weight of Soil
Reaction Earth
Pressure
❖ How Can the earth Pressures, Forces and
Moments be Determined?
➢ Soil Pressure Usually Determined Using Theories of Soil
Mechanics.
➢ Most Easy is the Rankine Theory.
➢ Soil Pressure Varies Linearly with the depth (Just Like
Water.
➢ But Not Following the Pascal’s Law.
➢ Soil Lateral Pressure Varies Linearly with the depth, but
Not Equal to the Vertical Pressure or the Weight of Soil. .
➢ Soil Lateral Pressure & Forces.
➢ Lateral earth Pressure “p” at Any Depth “h” is Given by:
➢ p = Ka ϒ h
➢ Where Ka is the Coefficient of Active Earth Pressure and
it is the Only Difference between a Fluid (Water)
Hydrostatic Pressure and the Soil Pressure
➢ ϒ is the Unit Weight of the Soil
➢ Knowing Pressure, Force & Moments Can be Calculated
❖ Variation of lateral Earth Pressure
ϒz
z
(Ka ϒ z)
F = ½ (Ka ϒ h) h
F = ½ Ka ϒ h2
(Ka ϒ h)
❖ Design Steps of Retaining Walls
➢ Usually Two Big Steps Involved :
❖ Stability Failures of Retaining Walls
➢ The Two Main Stability failure are the SLIDING Failure &
the OVERTURNING Failure.
➢ First Step is the Stability Analysis

➢ Involves Checks for Two Major Stability Failures
➢ The Sliding Failure Mode
➢ Find Out :
➢ Forces Causing Sliding?
➢ And Forces Resisting it?
➢ Next Stability Failure Mode is The Overturning

Failure Mode
➢ Find Out :
➢ Forces Causing Overturning?
➢ And Forces Resisting it?
➢ What will happen if a Wall is failing in ANY of
The Two Stability failure Modes?
➢ What will happen if a Wall is failing in ANY of The

Two Stability failure Modes?
➢ Increase the Resisting Forces or Moments
➢ So One Should Know What are De-stabilizing Forces
and Moments.
➢ What Are Stabilizing Forces and Moments
➢ Can You Guess How Could You Do It?
➢ How & When Sliding Will Occur ?

➢ When the Active Forces becomes Greater Than the
Resistive or Balancing Forces
➢ What Are Active Forces ?

➢ These Are developed by Lateral Earth Pressure
➢ What Are Balancing Forces ?

➢ Friction !! Caused by the WEIGHT
➢ In Stability Analysis,
Help of Passive
Earth Pressure is Weight of Soil
Taken if Wall is
Failing.
➢ If Still Wall is failing
in Sliding then a Passive Earth
Shear Key is Pressure Lateral Active Earth
provided Pressure
❖ Sliding Stability Check
➢ To Calculate Friction between Footing Coefficient of

Friction and Weight are Required
❖ Sliding Stability Check Criteria
➢ How Over-turning Will Occur ?

➢ When the Overturning Moments becomes Greater Than
the Balancing Moments
❖ Overturning Stability Check
❖ Overturning Stability Check
But PROPORTIONING of
RETAINING WALL is Required
Even Before Stability Checks
❖ Proportioning of Retaining Wall
❖ Design of Retaining Wall … Example
➢ Earth to Retain = 16.5 ft.

➢ Surcharge = 330 Psf.
➢ ϒsoil = 110 Pcf
16.5 ft.
➢ μ = 0.5 b/w concrete and soil
➢ μ = 0.7 b/w soil and soil
➢ Φ = 35 Degrees
➢ f’c & fy = 4 Ksi and 60 Ksi
3 ft.
➢ Stem Height “h” = 16.5 + 3 = 19.5 ft.

➢ Base Thickness = 0.08 h = .08*19.5 = 1.5 ft.
➢ Stem Thickness = 0.08 h - 0.1 h Or Select Same
as That of base Thickness = 1.5 ft
➢ Base Length = 2/5 to 2/3 of h = Say 10.5 ft.
➢ Toe Length = 0.17 to 0.125 h = 0.17 * h = 3.5 ft
(h/8 to h/6)
❖ Designing of Retaining Wall
➢ Lateral Earth Pressure
Coefficient of Active Earth Pressure “Ka”

❖ Stability Analysis of Retaining Wall
➢ FOS Against Overturning
Balancing Moment / Overturning

Moment ≥ 2
➢ Need to Calculate Forces Acting
How to Deal with Surcharge

Treat Like Soil Fill
➢ Calculation of Overturning Moment
Overturning Moment is :
➢ Balancing Moment & Overturning Moment
➢ Balancing Moment
➢ FOS Against Overturning
Balancing Moment / Overturning Moment
OK !!
➢ FOS Against Sliding
Friction Force / Sliding Force
NOT OK !!
Therefore Shear Key Required !!
➢ Shear Key Provides More Lateral Passive
Pressure as well as Increase the Friction beneath
the Base. It can be of any logical and small
Dimensions: 1 ft x 2 ft Or 1.5 ft. 1.5 ft,
➢ Shear Key Size
➢ Overcoming of Sliding Using Shear Key
➢ In order to Find Total Friction Under the Wall

Base, we Can Find Weight of the Wall and Soil
and then Multiply it by Coefficient of Friction.
➢ Again Check FOS Against Sliding
AFTER STABILITY, DESIGN of

RETAINING WALL
❖ Design of Retaining Wall
➢ Stem Design
Act Like a Vertical Cantilever and Under lateral
Earth Pressure
➢ Soil Pressure
➢ Stem Design
Act Like a Vertical Cantilever and Under lateral
Earth Pressure
b = 12 inches, d = 18 – cover – ½ bar dia

= 18 – 2 – 0.5 = 15.5 “
➢ Stem Design
➢ Stem Design
➢ Stem Design
➢ Stem Design
➢ Stem Design
➢ Heel Design
➢ Heel Design
➢ Heel Design
➢ Heel Design
➢ Heel Design
➢ Heel Design
➢ Heel Design
➢ Heel Design
➢ Toe Design
➢ Toe Design
➢ Toe Design
➢ Toe Design
➢ Wall Reinforcement
❖ Other Provisions in Retaining Wall

❖ Counterfort Retaining Wall

Retaining Walls 1

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STRUCTURAL DESIGN & DRAWING

Syed Salman Mobeen

High Level Differences

Dams / Water Channels

Dams / Water Retaining

Under ground Tanks

➢ The Retained Material Exerts Pressure on the

➢ In this Course Mostly the Retained Material is

Sections of Retaining Walls

Basements Retaining Wall

TYPES of RETAINING WALLS

By Their Function & Behavior

Simplest Forms of Retaining Walls

DESIGN of RETAINING WALLS

➢ How Any Structural Element is Designed ?

Passive Earth Pressure

Reaction Earth Pressure

➢ First Step is the Stability Analysis

➢ Next Stability Failure Mode is The Overturning

➢ What will happen if a Wall is failing in ANY of The

➢ How & When Sliding Will Occur ?

➢ What Are Active Forces ?

➢ What Are Balancing Forces ?

➢ To Calculate Friction between Footing Coefficient of

➢ How Over-turning Will Occur ?

➢ Earth to Retain = 16.5 ft.

➢ Stem Height “h” = 16.5 + 3 = 19.5 ft.

➢ Lateral Earth Pressure

Coefficient of Active Earth Pressure “Ka”

Balancing Moment / Overturning

➢ Need to Calculate Forces Acting

How to Deal with Surcharge

Balancing Moment / Overturning Moment

Friction Force / Sliding Force

❖ Stability Analysis of Retaining Wall

➢ In order to Find Total Friction Under the Wall

AFTER STABILITY, DESIGN of

b = 12 inches, d = 18 – cover – ½ bar dia

❖ Other Provisions in Retaining Wall

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