RETAINING WALLS

Retaining Walls
 Structures that are built to retain
vertical or nearly vertical earth banks or
any other material are called
retaining walls. Retaining walls may be
constructed of masonry or sheet piles.
 All the walls listed in Fig have to
withstand lateral pressures either from
earth or any other material on their
faces.
 Gravity walls resist movement because
of their heavy sections. They are built of
mass concrete or stone or brick
masonry.
 In all these cases, the backfill tries to
move the wall from its position. The
 movement of the wall is partly resisted by the wall itself and partly by
soil in 2 front of the wall.

Overview

 A retaining wall is generally defined as a vertical wall that

holds back earth. However a retaining wall has many uses
such as:

• A retaining wall for roadside embankments

• A retaining wall can separate older roads from
highways
• A house retaining wall for the garage
• A retaining wall helps keep river banks from eroding
• A retaining wall to keep earth from stairwells and
driveways
 Various types of Retaining walls

Principal types of rigid retaining walls

4
 Common materials used for
retaining walls
 Wood sheets;
 Steel and plastic interlocking sheets;
 Reinforced concrete sheets;
 Pre cast concrete elements (crib walls and
block walls);
 Closely spaced in-situ soil-cement piles;
 Wire-mesh boxes (gabions);
 Anchors into the soil or rock mass (soil nailing).
EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES
Types of Retaining Wall

Retaining Wall
The various types of earth-retaining structures fall
into three broad groups.

Gravity Walls
Embedded walls
 Reinforced and anchored earth
EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES
Gravity Walls

Gravity Walls
Masonry walls
Gabion walls
Crib walls
RC walls
Counterfort walls
Buttressed walls
Gravity wall
Cantilever wall
Gabion wall
Crib wall
 block retaining
wall

Vegetative
retaining wall
Common types of retaining wall
(sides of highway / expressway)
 Segmental block
retaining wall
system

Concrete retaining
wall
Common types of retaining wall
(hill side building development)
Drainage system in retaining
walls
Section view- concrete retaining
wall
Temporary formwork is a MUST to concreting works and concrete form
the shape of retaining wall hardening to form the final product before in-
situ concreting works of retaining wall structure coming in
Section view- Segmental blocks
retaining wall
EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES

Types of embedded walls

EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES
Gravity Walls

Embedded Walls
EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES
Gravity Walls

Unreinforced masonry wall

EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES
Gravity Walls

Gabion wall
EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES
Gravity Walls

Crib wall
EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES

Embedded Walls

Embedded walls

Driven sheet-pile walls

Braced or propped walls
Contiguous bored-pile walls
EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES

Secant bored-pile walls

Diaphram walls

Reinforced and Anchored Earth

Reinforced and anchored earth

Reinforced earth wall
Soil nailing
EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES

Ground anchors
Section view- Vegetative retaining wall
EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES
Reinforced and anchored earth
Reinforced earth and soil nailing
Section view- concrete retaining
wall
 Retaining wall

Ground level

Depth of excavation

Concrete base footing

perspective view- concrete
retaining wall
 length

Buttress /
piers

height

width
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
 Retaining wall failure at the Shin-Kang Dam
 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
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
 Failure of retaining wall (dam) due to water
pressure..
Types of walls

• Mass retaining walls

• Cantilever walls
• Counterfort retaining
walls
• Precast concrete
retaining walls
• Precast concrete cribretaining walls
Mass retaining walls

 Sometimes called gravity walls and rely upon

their own mass 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
semiengineering 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
Typical example of mass retaining walls
BRICK MASS RETAINING WALL
 Brick retaining
wall

Stone retaining wall

Typical example of mass retaining walls
 MASS CONCRETE RETAINING WALL WITH
STONE FACINGS

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
Cantilever wall
Types of RC
Gravity Walls
EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES
Gravity Walls
 Two basic forms:-
• A base with a large heel
• A cantilever with a large
toe
Cantilever T Cantilever L
Cantilever walls
 Counterfort retaining walls

 Can be constructed of reinforced or

prestressed concrete
 Suitable for over 4.5 m
 Triangular beams placed at suitable centres
behind the stem and above the base to enable
the stem and base to act as slab spanning
horizontally over or under the counterforts
 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.