Earth Pressure &

Retaining Walls

INSTRUCTOR- DR. AKANKSHA

TYAGI
TYPES OF RETAINING WALL

The retaining walls can generally be classified into four

varieties:
1. Gravity retaining walls
2. Semigravity retaining walls
3. Cantilever retaining walls
4. Counterfort retaining walls

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TYPES OF RETAINING WALL

Gravity retaining walls are

constructed with plain concrete or
stone masonry. They depend for
stability on their own weight and
any soil resting on the masonry.
This type of construction is not
economical for high walls.
In many cases, a small amount of
steel may be used for the
construction of gravity walls,
thereby minimizing the size of wall
sections. Such walls are generally
referred to as semigravity walls
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TYPES OF RETAINING WALL

Cantilever retaining walls are

made of reinforced concrete that
consists of a thin stem and a base
slab. This type of wall is economical
to a height of about 8 m.
Counterfort retaining walls are
similar to cantilever walls. At
regular intervals, however, they
have thin vertical concrete slabs
known as counterforts that tie the
wall and the base slab together. The
purpose of the counterforts is to
reduce the shear and the bending
moments.
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DESIGN OF RETAINING WALL

•First, with the lateral earth pressure known, the

structure as a whole is checked for stability.
•The structure is examined for possible overturning,
sliding, and bearing capacity failures.
•Second, each component of the structure is
checked for strength, and the steel reinforcement
of each component is determined.

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 Proportioning Retaining Walls
• In designing retaining walls, an engineer must assume some of their
dimensions which is known as proportioning
• If the stability checks yield undesirable results, the sections can be
changed and rechecked  The depth, D, to the bottom of the base
slab should be a minimum 0.6m
 Bottom of the base slab should be
positioned below the seasonal frost line
 For counterfort retaining walls, the
general proportion of the stem and the
base slab is the same as for cantilever
walls.
 Counterfort slabs may be about 0.3 m
thick and spaced at center-to-center
distances of 0.3H to 0.7H.

Approximate dimensions for various components of retaining wall for initial stability checks: (a) gravity wall; (b) cantilever wall

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Application of Lateral Earth Pressure Theories
to DESIGN

In the case of cantilever walls, the use of

the Rankine earth pressure theory for
stability checks involves drawing a vertical
line AB through point A, located at the edge
of the heel of the base slab.
Rankine active earth pressure equations
may then be used to calculate the lateral
pressure on the face AB of the wall.
In the analysis of the wall’s stability, the
force PA, the weight of soil above the heel,
and the weight of the concrete all should
be taken into consideration

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Application of Lateral Earth Pressure Theories
to DESIGN

Similar type of analysis may be used for

Gravity walls

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Application of Lateral Earth Pressure Theories
to DESIGN

In case of Gravity Walls, Coulomb’s

active earth pressure theory also may
be used , as shown in Figure .
The only forces to be considered are
Pa and the weight of the wall, Wc.
If Coulomb’s theory is used, it will be
necessary to know the range of the
wall friction angle δ with various types
of backfill material

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Stability of Retaining Walls

A retaining wall may fail in any of the following ways:

• Overturning about its toe
• Sliding along its base
• Failing due to the loss of bearing capacity of the soil supporting the
base
• Deep-seated shear failure
• Excessive settlement.

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Types of failure in retaining walls

Overturning Sliding

Bearing-capacity failure Deep-seated shear failure

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Deep-seated shear failure

• Existence of a weak layer of

soil underneath the wall at a
depth of about 1.5 times the
width of the base slab of the
retaining wall.

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Excessive Settlement

• When a weak soil layer is located at a shallow depth—that is, within a

depth of 1.5 times the width of the base slab of the retaining wall—the
possibility of excessive settlement should be considered.
• In some cases, the use of lightweight backfill material behind the
retaining wall may solve the problem.

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 1. Check for Overturning

• Consider all the forces acting on the wall,

calculate resultant force and their line of
action
• Calculate factor of safety against
overturning about the toe, about point C

• Overturning moment is

Ph=Pa cosα

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 1. Check for overturning

• To calculate the resisting moment ΣMR, (neglecting PP),

• Resisting Forces : Weight of the soil above the heel, the weight of the concrete
(or masonry) and Vertical component of the active force Pv as Pa sinα

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1. Check for overturning

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2. Check for Sliding

Shear strength of soil immediately below the slab

base is given by,

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2. Check for sliding

[See Table on slide 13]

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 2. Check for Sliding

If the desired value of Fssliding is not achieved,

• Increase the width of the base slab (i.e., the heel
of the footing)
• Use a key to the base slab
• Use an anchor at the stem of the retaining wall

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3. Check for bearing capacity failure

qtoe and qheel are the maximum and the minimum

pressures occurring at the ends of the toe and heel
sections
The sum of the vertical forces acting on the
base slab is ΣV and the horizontal force is Ph
Resultant force, R= ΣV + Ph
Net moment of these forces about point C,
Mnet = ΣMR - ΣMO
Line of action of the resultant R intersect the
base slab at E,
Distance CE = Mnet / ΣV
Eccentricity, e= 0.5B – CE

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3. Check for Bearing Capacity Failure

Pressure distribution under the base slab is given as,

q = ΣV/A ± Mnet y/I
Mnet= ΣV (e)
I = Moment of inertia per unit length of the base section = B 3/12
y = B/2

• When the value of the eccentricity e becomes greater than becomes

negative, there will be some tensile stress at the end of the heel section.
• This stress is not desirable, because the tensile strength of soil is very
small.
• The design should be re-proportioned and calculations redone !

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3. Check for Bearing Capacity Failure

Factor of safety against bearing capacity failure can be determined as,

qu is the ultimate bearing capacity of soil.

Generally, a factor of safety of 3 is required.

A factor of safety of 3 against bearing capacity failure may not ensure

that settlement of the structure will be within the tolerable limit in all
cases !

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Given Bearing Capacity is 567.41 kN/m2
Example 2. A gravity retaining wall is shown in Figure 8.13. Use
Coulomb’s active earth pressure theory. Calculate the factors of safety
with respect to overturning and sliding, and pressure on the soil at the
toe and the heel.

H’= 6.5m
Coulomb’s active force, Pa = 0.5 γ1 H’2 Ka

Pa = 157.22kN/m; Ph= 126.65kN/m; Pv= 93.14kN/m

1. FSoverturning

Area Area Weight Moment Moment

No. (m2) (kN/m) Arm C (m) (kN-m/m)

Pv

ΣV ΣMR

*Weight of soil above backface of the wall is not taken into account

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Example 2. A gravity retaining wall is shown in Figure 8.13. Use and
Coulomb’s active earth pressure theory. Calculate the factors of safety
with respect to overturning and sliding, and pressure on the soil at the
toe and the heel.

H’= 6.5m
Coulomb’s active force, Pa = 0.5 γ1 H’2 Ka

Pa = 157.22kN/m; Ph= 126.65kN/m; Pv= 93.14kN/m

1. FSoverturning

Area Area Weight Moment Moment

No. (m2) (kN/m) Arm C (m) (kN-m/m)

1 4.36 102.8 2.18 224.1

2 3.42 80.6 1.37 110.5

3 0.77 18.2 0.98 17.8

4 2.8 66 1.75 115.5

Pv=93 2.83 264

ΣV=361 ΣMR=732

*Weight of soil above backface of the wall is not taken into account

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 Example 2. Solution

Overturning Moment = MO= Ph x H’/3 = 274.45kN/m

FSoverturning = ΣMR/ ΣMO = 2.67 > 2 OK

2. FSsliding

FS sliding =
Σ V tan ( 32 ϕ 2 )+ 32 𝑐 2 𝐵 + 𝑃𝑝
′ ′
Pp
𝑃h Kp= 3.25
1.9 > 1.5 Pp= 67.64 kN/m
OK

3. Pressure on Soil at the toe and Heel

𝐵 ΣM R − ΣM O
𝑒= − = 0.483< 𝐵 / 6
2 ΣV

𝑞𝑡𝑜𝑒 =
ΣV
𝐵 [
1+
6𝑒
𝐵 ]
=188.5 𝑘𝑁 /𝑚 2 & 𝑞 h𝑒𝑒𝑙 =
ΣV
𝐵 [
1−
6𝑒
𝐵 ]
=17.7 𝑘𝑁 / 𝑚 2

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References

Principles of Foundation Engineering by Braja Das (Seventh edition)

Craig’s Soil Mechanics by Knappet and Craig (Eighth edition)
Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering by Muni Budhu (Third
edition)
Basic and Applied Soil Mechanics by G. Ranjan and A.S.R. Rao

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