STABILITY OF RCC WALL NEAR ACUTE ANGLE CORNER

Introduction

Because of the presence of RCC retaining structure, the length of the reinforcement strips
for the reinforced soil abutment wall, will be less than the design length. To ensure that
the strips have adequate pullout resistance a suitable anchorage detail needs to be
designed. It was proposed that the end of strips would be embedded in a 300m thick cast
in-situ concrete. The cast in-situ concrete wall will be joined to the existing RCC wall
using dowel bars of appropriate diameter and spacing, so that both walls act
monolithically. The proposed arrangement is shown in figures 1 and 2.

Spacing of the strips will be as per design for the applicable height. Hence once suitable
spacing is adopted, adequate factor of safety is ensured against rupture of the strip.

It was also shown that the embedment length provided in the cast in-situ concrete is
adequate to develop the required safe working bond strength (for the design tensile
strength of the strip).

Now, the stability of the combined wall (existing RCC + new cast in-situ wall) has to be
checked.

Forces Acting on the Combined Wall

The forces acting on this wall will be

 Active earth pressure due to existing backfill behind existing wall (P1)
 Earth pressure due to fill between cast in-situ wall and abutment wall (P2)
 Tension developed in the reinforcement strips, which are anchored in the cast in-
situ concrete wall (Ti).

Existing RCC wall New cast in-situ wall

P1 Ti

P2

Now if only earth was placed in front of the new cast in-situ wall the stability of the
combined wall will increase. i.e. the earth pressure imposed by the newly placed fill in
front of the combined wall counteracts the earth pressure imposed by the existing fill
behind the wall. The net effect will be a reduction in the net active earth pressure leading
to higher factor of safety.

However, in the present case the fill in front increases stability, while tension in the strips
decreases the stability of the combined wall. What is the resultant effect on stability?
If we recall the principle of reinforced soil, the earth pressure in the fill is resisted by the
tension mobilized in the strip. Hence the resultant earth pressure and the sum of the
reinforcement tensions have to be in equilibrium. This means that theoretically there is no
increase in the forces acting on the existing wall, due to the construction of reinforced
earth wall. i.e. the bending moments and shear force acting on the combined wall after
the construction of reinforced soil abutment wall, will be (in the worst case) same as
those presently acting on the existing wall.

Thus, it is seen that the load on the RCC wall will be less (or in the worst case remains
same) but the wall will be strengthened due to the addition of cast in-situ wall which will
be made monolithic to the existing wall by using dowel bars.

Check for factor of safety

The existing 300mm thick RCC wall is standing safely without any visible sign of
distress. However it is understood that it was constructed as a temporary wall and was not
properly designed. Hence the actual factor of safety is not known. However, if the
reinforcement details are available the design may be checked.

In the following the likely increase in factor of safety due to the addition of a 300 mm
thick cast in-situ wall is estimated.

Let area of tension steel = As

Allowable stress in steel = fs
Effective depth (d) = 300 – 40 = 260mm
Lever arm = 260 j
Moment of resistance of existing wall section = As fs j 260

With the addition of cast in-situ wall, over all depth increases to 600mm, but other things
remain same.

Effective depth = 600 – 40 = 560

Moment of resistance of combined wall section = As fs j 560

Increase in factor of safety = (As fs j 560) / (As fs j 260) = 2.15

The factor of safety is increased by a margin of 2.15. Hence the combined wall will have
adequate factor of safety.
Recommendations

1. Provide 300 mm thick cast in-situ concrete (minimum M 20 grade concrete – but if
higher grade concrete was used in existing wall, the same may be provided in the
new wall also) wall. Distribution steel may be provided as per codal requirements.

2. The new wall should be bonded to the existing wall using dowel bars of
appropriate diameter and spacing so that both walls act monolithically.
 200 mm thk. RCC panels

Dowel bars

300 mm thk.
RCC retaining wall

300 mm thk drainage layer

PLAN 300 mm thk. Cast in-situ concrete (M20) wall

SECTION X-X