RETAINING WALLS

Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to unnatural

slopes. 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.
A retaining wall is a structure designed and constructed to resist the
lateral pressure of soil when there is a desired change in ground elevation
that exceeds the angle of repose of the soil.
A basement wall is thus one kind of retaining wall. But the term usually
refers to a cantilever retaining wall, which is a freestanding structure
without lateral support at its top.These are cantilevered from a footing
and rise above the grade on one side to retain a higher level grade on the
opposite side. The walls must resist the lateral pressures generated by
loose soils or, in some cases, water pressures.
TYPES OF RETAINING
WALLS
 GRAVITY RETAINING WALLS
Gravity walls depend on their mass (stone, concrete or other heavy
material) to resist pressure from behind and may have a 'batter' setback to
improve stability by leaning back toward the retained soil. For short
landscaping walls, they are often made from mortarlessstone or
segmental concrete units (masonry units).
 STEEL SHEET PILE WALL

Earth retention and excavation support technique that

retains soil, using steel sheet sections with interlocking
edges
Installed in sequence to design depth along the planned
excavation perimeter or seawall alignment
Easy installation & subsequent retrieval for reuse
Ideally suited for temporary application where the
bending moment expected is not very high
Beyond certain depth (3 to 4m) this will require either
anchors or strut to reduce the bending moment
INSTALLATION VIBRATORY HAMMERS, IMPACT
HAMMERS, HYDRAULIC PUSHING
 SECANT PILE WALL
Bored-cast-in-situ piles, almost touching each other in a row
Depending on depth of excavation, the piles can be provided
with intermittent support with anchors or struts
If the soil retained is cohesionless with high water table, the
zone between the piles may need cement grouting or
inserting additional pile
Top of all the piles is normally connected with a common
copping beam which makes all the piles as an integral wall
Total waterproofing is very difficult to obtain in joints
Increased cost compared to steel sheet pile walls
INSTALLATION OF SECANT PILES
 ANCHORED RETAINING WALL
includes additional strength using cables or other
stays anchored in the rock or soil behind it.
Usually driven into the material with boring,
anchors are then expanded at the end of the
cable, either by mechanical means or often by
injecting pressurized concrete, which expands to
form a bulb in the soil. Technically complex, this
method is very useful where high loads are
expected, or where the wall itself has to be
slender and would otherwise be too weak.
 BERLIN WALL
Wide flange steel sections are inserted along the excavation
line with a centre to centre spacing of about 1m
Sections are either driven into the ground or they are lowered
in a pre-bored hole
Gap between the bore hole wall and the section is filled with
concrete from the bottom upto the excavation level. Beyond
this the gap is filled with soil.
Excavation is carried out in stages of 0.5 to 1m and as the
excavation progresses, wooden plank or steel formwork plates
are inserted between the steel sections to retain the soil
The horizontal thrust of retained earth is transferred to the
steel section through the flange.
BERLIN WALL
 NAILED WALL

As the excavation progresses, the vertical face of the

excavation is supported by either steel plate or wooden plank
which is nailed into the ground using long reinforcement rod
After nailing the plate, the excavation is advanced by further
0.6 to 1m and another plate/plank is placed and nailed
Planks/plates as well as the nails can rerieved for reuse
However unlike other methods, it is not possible to have a
vertical cut. The face of the retained earth is normally
inclined at 70 to 80 degrees with the horizontal.
INSTALLATION OF NAILED WALL
SOME ALTERNATE
TECHNIQUES
 CELLULAR CONFINEMENT
Cellular Confinement grid can also be infilled and
stacked to create a near vertical retaining wall
system. The process is easy, fast and economical.
Workers use a field constructed wooden frame to
stretch the sections to the proper size, then
adjacent sections are stapled together and
infilled with soil or granular materials. The cells
hold the soil in place, and also provide drainage
throughout the structure. Soil filling the outer
cells of the system allows for these retaining wall
systems to be vegetated and give the wall an
environmentally pleasing look.
CELLULAR CONFINEMENT
 RCC DIAPHRAGM WALL
Used either for temporary use
or for permanent use as
basement wall
Unlike steel sheet pile cant
be retrieved
However there are cases
where RCC diaphragm wall has
been used as a temporary wall
Due to much higher rigidity
compared to steel sheet pile,
this wall can cantilever for a
large height
 SOIL -STRENGTHENED
A number of systems exist that do not consist of just the
wall, but reduce the earth pressure acting directly on the
wall. These are usually used in combination with one of the
other wall types, though some may only use it as
facing, i.e., for visual purposes.
This type of soil strengthening, often also used without an
outside wall, consists of wire mesh "boxes", which are filled
with roughly cut stone or other material. The mesh cages
reduce some internal movement and forces, and also
reduce erosive forces. Gabion walls are free-draining
retaining structures and as such are often built in locations
where ground water is present. However, management and
control of the ground water in and around all retaining
walls is important.
GABION RETAINING WALL
SOIL MOVEMENT DUE TO EXCAVATION
SOIL MOVEMENT DUE TO EXCAVATION
 Forces acting on the
retaining wall:
Lateral forces: Earth pressure due to backfill and surcharge.
Vertical forces:
Acting downwards:
Self weight of the retaining wall ;
Weight of soil above heel slab.
Acting upwards:
Force due to soil pressure underneath the base slab.
 Earth pressures:

(a) On stem: Earth

pressure on the stem
from backfill (active
earth pressure) varies h Kah
linearly. According to
Rankines theory at
depth h below the top
of wall is given by
pa = kah H Pa=1/2kaH
2
where ka = Coefficient
of active earth pressure
ka = 1-sin
1+sin
= Angle of internal friction H/
of soil 3

= Unit weight of back fill

Ka
Incase of backfill with
surcharge; ws

The surcharge on backfill

may be due to traffic
load on top of back fill or
due to a structure near
it.
If ws is the surcharge
pressure on horizontally
finished back fill, then
uniform effect of
surcharge on stem is
given by;
ps = ka ws
pa
ps
If backfill is
sloping;

For sloping black fill, the

pressure on stem is parallel to
top surface and is given by;
pa = kah

ka = cos cos - cos2 -

cos2
cos + cos2 -
where,cos2
is angle of slope of
backfill with
horizontal.(also reffered as
surcharge angle)
k is coeff. Of active earth
pressure for such case.
 Stability Conditions:
A retaining wall must be stable as a whole, and it must
have sufficient strength to resist the forces acting on
it.

In order that the wall may be stable, the following

conditions should be satisfied:

i. The wall must be strong enough to resist the

bending moment and shear force.
ii. The wall should not overturn.
iii. Maximum pressure at base should not exceed the
SBC of soil.
iv. The wall should not slide due to lateral pressure.
Failure of Retaining walls
Failure of retaining walls is more frequent as compared to other RC structures due to
The individual components of the wall may fail
Poor design assumptions
Changing and unpredictable subsoil and backfilled conditions
Poor masonry work/material strength and improper bonding
Lack of drainage facilities and provisions
The wall as a whole may be displaced due to sliding
The wall may get overturned
The factor of safety against the sliding must be at least 1.5
The pressure under the footing must not exceed the allowable bearing capacity of soil
 Measures to avoid failure of
retaining wall
Drainage:
The lack of proper drainage is the most common
reason for retaining wall failure.
When water is absorbed into the soil behind a retaining
wall and it has no place to go, the pressure behind the
wall is increased. If the water continues to build up, it
will eventually push the wall out, causing it to bulge or
collapse.
Installing drain pipes and using a clean, granular rock
for both the backfill and the base of the wall will allow
water to drain out. The pressure will be released and
wall failure will be prevented.
 Compaction.
Poor compaction will eventually cause a
retaining wall to shift, producing large gaps
within the wall.
The soil needs to be compacted once at the
point of excavation, again after the gravel base
has been added, and each time backfill is
added.
The most effective way to do this is to use a
piece of machinery called a compactor.
 Reinforcements.
The type of reinforcements needed depends on a
number of factors the soil conditions, the type
of material being used to build the wall, and the
height of the wall.
The most common type of reinforcement for
modular block retaining walls and rock retaining
walls is geogrid.
Geogrid is a mesh-like fabric that helps stabilize
the soil and secure the wall. It is normally added
every 2 or 3 courses.
 references

Bowles, J.,(1968). Foundation Analysis and Design,

McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York
Building Code (Building Codes Illustrated) (2 ed.). New York,
NY: Wiley.
Ambrose,J. (1991). Simplified Design of Masonry Structures (pp.
70-75.). New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.