Retaining Walls

Shivang Kumar
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A51204018005
 Content
Introduction
Components
Loads on a Retaining Wall
Applications
Stability
Types
Pros and Cons
Failures
Links
 Introduction

 Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally
so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides.
 Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it
would not naturally keep to (typically a steep, near-vertical or vertical
slope).
  They are used to bound soils between two different elevations often in
areas of terrain possessing undesirable slopes or in areas where the
landscape needs to be shaped severely and engineered for more specific
purposes like hillside farming or roadway overpasses. 
 Components
 Stem- Vertical member holding the backfill.
 Toe slab- Portion of the footing at the front of the wall
 Heel slab- Portion of the footing at the
backfill side
 Counter forts-Counterfeits are provided
with retaining walls if the earth
pressure exerted by the backfill
material tends to overturn the stem of
the retaining wall.
 Shear key- Projects down under the
footing
 Loads on a Retaining Wall
Major loads that act on retaining walls are as follows:

i. Self weight of retaining wall

ii. Vertical earth pressure (on toe and heel of retaining wall)
iii. Lateral earth pressure (active, passive or at-rest pressure)
iv. Vertical live load
v. Horizontal Live load Surcharge
vi. Horizontal Water pressure
vii. Buoyancy or Uplift due to water table
 Applications

 Construction of basement below ground level in buildings.

 To retain slopes in hilly terrain roads.

 As side walls of bridge approach roads.

 To provide lateral support to embankment.

 Stability
There are three basic instability modes to be checked for the service load
combinations: Sliding, Overturning and Soil bearing.

 Sliding – The backfill exerts a lateral pressure against the wall. This
sliding force is resisted by the friction between the underlying soil and
the footing, and by the passive pressure at the front of the wall. When
more sliding resistance is required, a shear key may be provided. The
factor of safety against sliding equals the resisting force divided by the
driving force, and the minimum value should be 1.50.
 Stability
 Overturning- Overturning failure is a result of excessive
lateral earth pressures with relation to retaining wall
resistance thereby causing the retaining wall system to
topple or rotate (overturn)

 Soil Bearing- The foundation bearing capacity (gravity

case) will usually govern the design of
the wall dimensions and is checked first.
The soil under the toe of the foundation in particular
is working very hard to resist the
vertical bearing loads, sliding shear, and to provide
passive resistance to sliding.
 Stability
 It is important to prevent accumulation of water behind a retaining
wall. The backing material should be suitably drained by providing
weep holes.
 Long masonry retaining walls should be provided with expansion
joints located at 6 to 9m apart.
 Weep holes may be provided to relieve water pressure.
 The wall should be structurally capable of resisting the pressure
applied to it.
 Types
 Cantilever retaining walls
 Counter fort retaining walls
 Gravity retaining walls
 Crib retaining walls
 Anchored retaining walls
 Diaphragm walls
 Piled retaining walls On based on types of materials-
 Concrete
 Reinforced concrete cement
 Stone
 Types
Cantilever Retaining Wall
 Cantilever retaining wall composed of stem and base slab
 It is constructed from reinforced concrete, precast concrete, or
prestress concrete.
 Cantilever retaining wall is the most common type used as retaining
walls.
 Cantilever retaining wall is either constructed on site or
prefabricated offsite i.e. precast.
 The portion of the base slab beneath backfill material is termed as
heel, and the other part is called toe.
 Cantilever retaining wall is economical up to height of 10m.
 It requires smaller quantity of concrete compare with gravity wall but
its design and construction shall be executed carefully.
 Similar to gravity wall, sliding, overturning, and bearing pressure
shall be taken into consideration during its design.
 The cantilever retaining wall are of three types :
1. T-shaped
2. L-shaped
3. T-shaped with shear key
A schematic view of a cantilever retaining wall
 Types
Construction-
1. Prefabricating the reinforcing steel.
2. Field excavating an even greater volume of the earth bank;
3. Making more difficult wood forms for both sides of the wall;
4. Placing and tying in place the reinforcing steel;
5. Pouring the concrete;
6. Removing the wood forms and surfacing the exposed concrete
surfaces;
7. Back filling the excavated earth of the bank;
8. Providing expansion joints and weep holes in the wall; and
9. Allowing time for the setting of the concrete before removal of the
wood forms and making the back fill.
 Types
Counter-fort / Buttressed Retaining Wall-
 It is a cantilever retaining wall but strengthened with counter forts
monolithic with the back of the wall slab and base slab.
 Counter fort spacing is equal or slightly larger than half of the counter-fort
height.
 Counter-fort wall height ranges from 8-12m.
 The bending moment is being reduced by the introduction of transverse
support called counterforts.
 These walls are placed at regular intervals of about 1/3 to ½ of the wall
height, interconnection the stem with heel slab.
 The counterforts are concealed within the retained earth on the rear side
of the wall.
 Types
Gravity Retaining Wall
 Gravity retaining wall depends on its self weight only to resist lateral
earth pressure.
 Commonly, gravity retaining wall is massive because it requires
significant gravity load to counter act soil pressure.
 Sliding, overturning, and bearing forces shall be taken into consideration
while this type of retaining wall structure is designed.
 It can be constructed from different materials such as concrete, stone,
and masonry units.
 It is economical for a height up to 3m.
 Crib retaining wall, gabions, and bin retaining wall are also type of
gravity retaining walls.
Types
 Types
Crib Retaining Wall
 Crib retaining walls are a form of gravity wall.
 They are constructed of interlocking individual boxes made from timber or
pre-cast concrete.
 Then, the boxes are filled with crushed stone or other coarse granular
materials to create a free draining structure.
 Basic types of crib retaining walls include reinforced precast, and timber
retaining walls.
 It is suited to support planter areas, but it is not recommended  for support
of slopes or structures.
Precast Concrete
 Types
Anchored Retaining Wall
 This type of retaining wall is employed when the space is limited or
thin retaining wall is required.
 Anchored retaining wall is suitable for loose soil over rocks.
 Considerably high retaining wall can be constructed using this type
of retaining wall structure system.
 deep cable rods or wires are driven deep sideways into the earth,
then the ends are filled with concrete to provide anchor.
 Anchors (tiebacks) acts against overturning and sliding pressure.
Types
 Types
Diaphragm wall
Diaphragm wall is a reinforced concrete structure constructed in-situ
panel by panel. The wall is usually designed to reach very great
depth, sometimes up to 50m, mechanical excavating method is thus
employed. Typical sequence of work includes:
a) Construct the guide wall
b) Excavation to form the diaphragm wall trench
c) Support the trench cutting using bentonite slurry
d) Inert reinforcement and placing of concrete to
form the wall panel
 Types
Guide wall – guide wall is two parallel concrete beams constructed
along the side of the wall as a guide to the clamshell which is used for
the excavation of the diaphragm wall trenches.

Trench excavation – In normal soil condition excavation is done using a

clamshell or grab suspended by cables to a crane. The grab can easily
cut through soft ground. In case of encountering boulders, a gravity
hammer (chisel) will be used to break the rock and then take the spoil
out using the grab.

Reinforcement – reinforcement is inserted in the form of a steel cage,

but may be required to lap a few sections in order to reach the required
length.
 Types
Concreting – placing of concrete is done using tremie pipes to avoid the
segregation of concrete. As Concrete being poured down, bontonite will
be displaced due to its lower density than concrete. Bontonite is then
collected and reused.

Joining for the diaphragm wall panel – Diaphragm wall cannot be

constructed continually for a very long section due to limitation and size
of the mechanical plant. The wall is usually constructed in alternative
section. Two stop end tubes will be placed at the ends of the excavated
trench before concreting. The tubes are withdrawn at the same time of
concreting so that a semi-circular end section is formed. Wall sections
are formed alternatively leaving an intermediate section in between. The
in-between sections are built similarly afterward but without the end
tube. At the end a continual diaphragm wall is constructed with the
panel sections tightly joined by the semi-circular groove.
Types
 Types
Piled Retaining Wall-
 Pile retaining wall are constructed by driving reinforced concrete piles
adjacent to each other as shown in the Fig.
 Piles are forced into a depth that is sufficient to counter the force which
tries to push over the wall.
 It is employed in both temporary and permanent works.
 Piled walls offer high stiffness retaining elements which are able to hold
lateral pressure in large excavation depths with almost no disturbance to
surrounding structures or properties.
 Sheet pile walls are built using steel sheets into a slope or excavations
up to a required depth, but it cannot withstand very high pressure
 Sheet pile retaining wall economical till height of 6m
Types
Type Material Force Preference Soil Use
Type

Cantilever RCC Toe and Height upto Hard Structures

Key 10M

Counter RCC Counter 8-12M Sandy soil Heavy ground retention

fort forts

Gravity Concrete, Self Upto 3M Grainy Soil handing, decoration

Stone Weight

Crib Timber, Not for Small heights - Planter areas

pre-cast support
concrete

Anchored RCC Anchors 10M or more Loose Limited space

Piled RCC Stem Upto 6M Loose ground retention prior to

excavation
 Pros and Cons
Benefits Of Retaining walls-
 providing functional support for keeping soil in place,
 preventing sink holes and eliminating the eye sore of dirt piles and hills.
 helpful in preventing flooding.
 reduces maintenance and prevents erosion.
 prevent damage to property or surrounding structures.
 Failures
Causes-
 Improper reinforcement placement
 Saturated backfill
 Weep holes that do not weep
 Design error
 Calculation errors
 Unanticipated loads
 Detailing errors
 Foundation issues
 Shoddy construction
 Retaining wall age
 Failures
Retaining Wall Failure due to Improper Reinforcement Placement:
Reinforcement size, depth, and spacing should be checked when wall
stem exhibits sign if issues such as cracking and extreme deflections.
Reinforcement size and depth can be determined either by devices for
example magnetic field measuring pachometer.
This device is used to determine reinforcement position and depth up to
around 100 mm with acceptable accuracy or to achieve more accurate
measurement. This device can also locate steel bars and chip out
concrete to find out the precise reinforcement size and depth.

Retaining Wall Failure due to Saturated Backfill

It is assumed that backfill is granular and well drained during the design
of retaining wall. Pressure against the wall is substantially increased if
surface water is permitted to infiltrate into the backfill. poor backfill such
as those containing clay swells and lead to increase pressure
considerably.
This can be avoided by grading backfill surface that direct water away
from the wall or by diverting water to disposal through drainage
channels close to the retaining wall.
 Links
Retaining Wall Reinforcement-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2-ikVxb_os

Construction of Diaphragm walls-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUlQyiHfex0

Form Work-
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpQBBTxuRtw
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bRTXuJZKq8

Reinforcement fabrication of retaining wall base slab-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V88mBI-FD4k