EAS 356/2

REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN II

TITLE
RETAINING WALL
 INTRODUCTION
• Retaining wall are used to retain earth or other
material in a vertical or nearly vertical position at
locations where an abrupt change in ground
level occurs.
• The wall, therefore prevents the retain earth
from assuming its natural angle of response.
• This caused the retained earth to exert a lateral
pressure on the wall, thereby tending to
overturn, slide and settle the retaining wall
structure.
 Overturning Sliding Settlement

Failure of Retaining Wall

• The wall including its support base, must

therefore suitably designed to be stable under
the effects of the lateral pressure, and also to
satisfy the usual requirements of strength and
serviceability.
• The wall
including its
support base,
must therefore
suitably designed
to be stable
under the effects
of the lateral
pressure, and
also to satisfy the
usual
requirements of
strength and
serviceability.
 GL2
• The geotechnical design
of retaining wall is
covered by EC7.
BACK
• Walls that retain soil or SOIL
water and do not involve
GL1
exceptional risk or difficult
soil or loading conditions
are classified as
Gravity retaining wall
Geotechnical Category 2
in EC7 Part 1

5
 Types of Retaining Wall
There are many types of retaining structures and
they are generally divided into two main categories
namely gravity wall and the cantilevered wall. The
following are some commonly used walls in
Malaysia:

Bukit Setiawangsa slope failure

 A. Gravity Wall
• The gravity retaining wall depends entirely on its
own weight to provide the necessary stability, its
rather massive in size.
• It is usually constructed of plain concrete or
stone masonry.
• Plain concrete gravity walls are not used for
height exceeding about 3m, for economic
reasons.
• Design of this wall is concerned chiefly in
keeping the thrust line within the middle third of
the base width so that no tensile stress is
developed.
 B. Cantilever Wall
• Cantilever wall is the most common type of
retaining structure and its generally economical
for height up to 8m.
• The structure consists of a vertical cantilever
spanning from a large rigid base slab.
• The stability of the wall is maintained essentially
by the weight of the soil on the base slab plus
the self weight of the structure.
 C. Counterfort Wall
• Counterfort wall will probably used where the
overall height of wall is too large to be
constructed economically as a cantilever.
• The wall and the base are tied together at
intervals by counterfort or bracing walls.
• This type of wall becomes economical for a high
walls usually above 6-7m backfill.
 D. Buttress Wall
• Similar to counterfort wall but the bracing is
constructed in front of the wall.
• In this case the bracing is in compression rather
than tension.
• Although buttress are structurally more efficient
than counterforts, the later is generally preferred
to the counterforts wall as it provides free usable
space in the front of the wall.
 E. Gabion Wall
• Gabion wall is a retaining wall made of
rectangular containers (baskets) fabricated of
heavily galvanized wire, which are filled with
stone and stacked on one another, usually in
tiers that step back with the slope rather than
vertical.
• Gabions have advantages over more rigid
structures because they can conform to ground
movement, dissipate energy from flowing water
and drain freely.
Pressure on Retaining Wall
 Analysis and Design
• The design of the reinforced retaining wall
can be divided into two fundamental
stages as follows:

– Stability Analysis
– Element Design and Detailing
 Ultimate Limit State
The design of reinforced concrete
retaining walls requires verification
that the following ultimate states are
not exceeded:
a. Overall failure of the ground
containing the wall
b. Failure of the wall by sliding
c. Failure of the ground by topping
(usually only relevant to walls
founded on rock)
d. Bearing failure of the ground
beneath the wall (which may
involve settlement and rotation of
the wall)
e. Structure failure of the wall
 Stability Analysis
• The lateral force due to earth pressure
constitutes the main factor acting on the
retaining wall, tending to make it overturn, slide
and settle.
• The safety of the wall depends on the stability
against these 3 modes of failure under the
Ultimate Limit State as defined in EN 1990:2002
Eurocode as follows:
– EQU : Loss of equilibrium
– STR : Failure of the structure
– GEO : Failure of the ground
 Stability Analysis
• In UK the checks against failure in the Ground
(GEO) and the Structure (STR) must be checked
using Design Approach 1 (DA1) which requires
that two checks are performed:
– Design Combination 1 (DA1/1)
– Design Combination 2 (DA1/2)
• The 3rd combination must be taken into account
when considering possible loss of equilibrium
(EQU) of a structure such as overturning.
 Stability Analysis
• Different factors are applied if loads
(Actions) are :
– Permanent
– Variable
– Accidental
• Different factors are applied if loads
(Actions) are:
– Favorable
– Unfavorable
i.e assists to resists collapse
 Stability Analysis
“In the expression used here, when sliding and
topping were considered, the self-weight of the
wall stem, wall base and backfill are favorable
actions but are typically unfavorable actions for
bearing (but since they reduce the inclination and
eccentricity of the total action, they must be
favorable-both situations should be checked). “
Partial safety factor at the ultimate limit state
 Partial safety factor at the ultimate limit state
Persistent or Permanent actions Leading variable Accompanying
transient design actions variable actions
situation Unfavorable Favorable Unfavorable Favorable Unfavorable Favorable

(a)For
consideration of
structural or
geotechnical 1.35 1.00 1.50 0.00 1.50 0.00
failure :
Combination 1
(STR & GEO)
(b)For
consideration of
structural or
geotechnical 1.00 1.00 1.30 0.00 1.30 0.00
failure :
Combination 2
(STR & GEO)
(b)For checking
static equilibrium 1.10 0.90 1.50 0.00 1.50 0.00
(EQU)
 DESIGN APPROACH 1
(STR & GEO)
Combination 1 (DA1/1)
• Partial factors > 1 are
applied to actions and
structural materials only:
– Self weight of the wall and
backfill (treated as
permanent actions)
– Any imposed load or
surcharges at the top of the
wall (permanent or variable
actions)
– Earth and pore water
pressures acting on the wall ‘s
boundary (permanent
actions)
Combination 2 (DA1/2)
• Partial factors > 1 are
applied to variable actions
only and to the strength of
the ground and structure to
the soil’s undrained
strength in short-term
undrained situations; and to
the soil’s angle of shearing
resistance and effective
cohesion in long-term
drained situations.
Design Procedure

Overall stability of the site:

an essential part of the
geotechnical design of
retaining structures is
checking the stability of the
site against overall rotational
failure and other form of
overall ground failure.
 Design Procedure
Initial Sizing:
- The base width,B of a RC
cantilever retaining wall is
usually between 0.5 and 0.7
times its overall height,h
- The breath of the wall stem, bs
is normally h/15 to h/10 as is
the thickness of the wall base
t b.
- The breath of the wall toe, bt is
typically equal to B/4 to B/3.
- For a basement wall, the
thickness of 300mm is used to
consider by the waterproof
requirements.
 Design Procedure
Materials properties:
- The properties chosen for the
backfill behind the retaining
wall are critical to the
geotechnical design of the wall.
- Characteristic geotechnical
parameters should be
determined by an experienced
geotechnical engineer and
recorded in the Geotechnical
Design Report.
- The foundation beneath the
wall base is critical to the wall’s
sliding and bearing resistance
and its properties should be
chosen carefully.
Design Procedure
Design against Toppling/Overturning
• This occurs because of unbalanced moments and when
overturning moment about toe due to lateral pressure is
larger than the resisting moment due to the weights of
wall and weight of soil above the heel slab. The critical
conditions are when maximum horizontal force acts with
a minimum vertical load.
 Design against Toppling/Overturning
• A partial safety factor of 0.9 is applied to the permanent
vertical load ∑Vk (weight of the wall + weight of the soil)
if its effect is ‘favorable’.
• The ‘unfavorable’ effects of the permanent earth
pressure loading Hk at the rear face of the wall are
multiplied by a partial safety factor of 1.1.
• The ‘unfavorable’ effects of the variable surcharge
loading, if any, are multiplied by a partial safety factor of
1.5.
• The stability requirement against overturning then
become:
0.9 𝑉𝑘 𝑥 ≥ 𝛾𝑓 𝐻𝑘 y
Design against Toppling/Overturning
 Design against Sliding
• The resistance against sliding is essentially
provided by the friction between the bottom
surface of the base slab and soil beneath it.
• Resistance provided by the passive earth
pressure on the front face of the base may make
some contribution, but since this material is often
back filled against the face, its resistance cannot
be guaranteed and is usually ignored.
 Design against Sliding
• A partial safety factor of 1.0 is applied to the
permanent vertical load ∑Vk if its effect is
‘favorable’ (i.e contribution to sliding resistance)
and the unfavorable effect of the permanent
earth and surcharge pressure at the rear of the
wall are multiplied by partial safety factor of 1.35
and 1.5 respectively.
• Thus the coefficient of friction between the base
and the soil is µ, the stability requirement
against sliding become:
 Design against Sliding

If this criterion is not met, a heel beam may be used, and

the force due to passive earth pressure over the face area of
the heel may be included in resisting the sliding force
Design against
Sliding
 Design against Settlement/ Bearing
Failure
• The width of base slab must be adequate to
distribute the vertical force to the foundation soil
without causing excessive settlement or rotation.
• To determine the required size of the base the
bearing pressure underneath it is assessed on
the basis of the ultimate limit state (GEO).
• Since the base slab of the wall is subjected to
the combined effects of an eccentric vertical load
coupled with an overturning moment, the
analysis is similar to that for foundation design.
 Design against Settlement/ Bearing
Failure
• The distribution of bearing pressure will be as
shown in the figure below, provided the effective
eccentricity e lies within the middle third of the
base. The bearing pressure is then given by:
 Design against Settlement/ Bearing
Failure
• Two sets of load combinations must be
considered at the ULS.
• For Load Combination 1:
– Moment due to the horizontal load on the maximum
bearing pressure at the toe of the wall is ‘unfavorable’
whilst the moments of the weight of the wall and the
earth acting on the heel of the wall act in the opposite
sense and are thus ‘favorable’.
– Partial safety factor for the lateral earth pressure and
lateral surcharge are 1.35 and 1.5 respectively
– Partial safety factor for the effect of weight of wall and
soil is 1.0
– Partial safety factor for the weight of surcharge is 0
 Design against Settlement/ Bearing
Failure
• For Load Combination 2:
– Partial safety factor for permanent action is 1.0 for
both ‘unfavorable’ and ‘favorable’ effects
– Partial safety factor for permanent action is 1.3 and 0
for ‘unfavorable’ and ‘favorable’ effects respectively.
Design against Settlement/
Bearing Failure
 Structural Design & Detailing
• The three elements of the retaining wall, ie stem, toe
slab and heel slab are designed as cantilever slabs to
resists the designed moments and shear forces.
 Structural Design & Detailing
• The stem is designed to resists the moment caused by
the force γf Hf with γf value taken for load combination
1 if this load combination is deemed to be critical. The
flexural reinforcement is provided near the rear face of
the stem and may be curtailed in stages for economy.
• In the case of toe slab, the net pressure is obtained by
deducting the weight of the concrete in the toe slab from
the upward acting soil pressure. The net pressure acts
upward and the flexural reinforcement has to be
provided at the bottom of the toe slab.
• The heel slab must be designed to resists the moment
due to downward pressure from the weight of the
retained earth (plus surcharge, if any) and concrete slab.
Since the net pressure acts upward, the flexural
reinforcement is provided at the top of the heel slab.
 EAS 356/2
REINFORCED CONCRETE DESIGN II
RETAINING WALL
EXAMPLE
 EXAMPLE 1
• Design of a retaining wall
show at the figure supports
a granular material of
saturated density
1700kg/m2. it is required to:
– Check the stability of the
wall
– Determine the bearing
pressure at ULS
– Design the bending
reinforcement using
high-yield steel, fyk =
500kN/m2 and concrete
class C30/37
(1)Stability

Horizontal Force
Assuming active pressure Ka = 0.33 (typical granular
material).
Hence the earth pressure is given by :
𝒑𝒂 = 𝑲𝒂 𝝆𝒈𝒉

ρ= density of the back fill, h = depth

Pa = (0.33) (1700 x 10-3 ) (9.81) (4.9) = 27.0kN/m2

Allowing for the minimum required surcharge of 10kN/m2 an

additional pressure of

ps = Ka x 10 = 0.33 x 10 = 3.3 kN/m2

Acts uniformly over the whole depth h.
Therefore, the horizontal force on 1m length of wall is given by:
Hk (earth) = 0.5pah
= 0.5 (27.0) (4.9) = 66.1kN from the active earth
pressure
and
Hk (sur) = psh
= (3.3) (4.9) = 16.2kN from the surcharge pressure.

Vertical Load
(a) Permanent load

Wall = ½ (0.4 + 0.3) x 4.5 x 25 = 39.4kN

Base/heel = 0.4 x 3.4 x 25 = 34.0kN
Earth/toe =2.2 x 4.5 x 1700 x 10-3 x 9.81 = 165kN
Total = 238.5kN
Variable loads
Surcharge = 2.2 x 10 = 22.0kN
(i) Overturning
Taking moment at point A (EQU)
For the overturning (unfavorable) moment a factor of 1.1 is
applied to the earth pressure and factor of 1.5 to the
surcharge pressure.

Overturning moment = 𝛾𝑓 𝐻𝑘 (𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ) ℎ 3 + 𝛾𝑓 𝐻𝑘 (𝑠𝑢𝑟) ℎ 2

= (1.1 x 66.1 x 4.9/3) + (1.5 x 16.2 x 4.9/2)
= 178kNm
For the restraining (favorable) moment a factor of 0.9 is
applied to the permanent loads and 0 to the variable
surcharge load

Restraining moment = 𝛾𝑓 (39.4 x 1.0 + 34.0 x 1.7 + 165.1 x 2.3)

= 0.9 x 476.9
= 429kNm
Thus the criterion for overturning is satisfied.
(ii) Sliding
From equation 10.10 (Mosley):
𝜇 1.0 𝐺𝑘 + 1.0𝑉𝑘 ≥ 𝛾𝑓 𝐻𝑘
For the sliding (unfavorable) effects a factor of 1.35 is
applied to the earth pressure and a factor of 1.5 to the
surcharge pressure.

Sliding force = 1.35 x 66.1 + 1.50 x 16.2

= 113.5kN

For the restraining (favorable) effect a factor of 1.0 is

applied to the permanent loads and 0 to the variable
surcharge load. Assuming a value of coefficient of friction,
µ = 0.45

Frictional resisting force = 0.45 x 1.0 x 238.5

= 107.3kN
Since the sliding force exceeds the frictional force, resistance
must also be provided by the passive earth pressure action
against the heel beam and this force is given by:

𝑯𝒑 = 𝜸𝒇 x 0.5𝑲𝒑 𝝆𝒈𝒂𝟐

Kp = coefficient of passive pressure, assume to be 3.5 for this

granular material
a = depth of the heel below 0.5m ‘trench’ allowance in front of
the base

Hp = 1.0 x 0.5 x 3.5 x 1700 x 10-3 x 9.81 x 0.52

= 7.3 kN

Therefore total resisting force = 107.3 + 7.3 = 114.6kN

Which marginally exceeds the sliding force.

(2) Bearing Pressure at ULS (STR & GEO)

Consider only Combination 1 (will give the maximum bearing

pressure at the toe of the wall

Note that the weight of the earth and the surcharge

loading exerts a moment about the base centerline that
will reduce the maximum pressure at the toe of the wall.

Hence the effect of the weight of the earth is taken as

favorable effect (𝜸𝒇 = 1.0) and the weight of the surcharge
load is also take as a favorable effects (𝜸𝒇 = 0) within the
calculation below.

The unfavorable effects of the lateral earth pressure and

the lateral surcharge pressure are multiplied by factor 𝜸𝒇 =
1.35 and 𝜸𝒇 = 1.5, respectively.
From Eqn 10.13 and 10.14 (Mosley) the bearing pressure are
given by:

𝑵 𝟔𝑴
𝒑= ± 𝟐
𝑫 𝑫

Where M is the moment about the base centerline, Therefore:

M = 𝜸𝒇 (66.1 x 4.9/3) + 𝜸𝒇 (16.2 x 4.9/2) + 𝜸𝒇 (3.9.4 (1.7-1.0))

- 𝜸𝒇 (165.1 (2.3-1.7))
= (1.35 x 107.9) + (1.5 x 39.7) + (1.35 x 27.6) – (1.0 x 99.1)
= 145.7 + 59.6 + 37.3 – 99.1
= 143.5kNm
Therefore, bearing pressure at toe and heel of the wall

(1.35 𝑥 39.4+34.0 +1.0 𝑥 165.1) 6 𝑥 143.5

𝑝1 = ±
3.4 3.4 2

= 77.7 ± 74.5

= 152.3kN/m2, 3.2kN/m2
< Soil bearing capacity

Assume soil bearing

Capacity = 200kN/m2
(3) Bending Reinforcement

(i) Wall

Horizontal force
= 𝛾𝑓 0.5𝐾𝑎 𝜌𝑔ℎ2 + 𝛾𝑓 𝑝𝑠 h
= 1.35 x 0.5 x 0.33 x 1700 x 10-3 x 9.81 x 4.52 + 1.50 x 3.3 x 4.5
= 75.2 + 22.3
= 97.5kN

Considering the effective span, the maximum moment is:

𝑀𝐸𝑑 = 75.2 x (0.2 + 4.5/3) + 22.3 x (0.2 + 4.5/2)
= 182.5 kNm

𝑀𝐸𝑑 182.5 𝑥 106

2 = 2 = 0.058 = k < 0.167
𝑏𝑑 𝑓𝑐𝑘 1000 𝑥 325 𝑥 30
Z = 0.95d

d = h – c – Ø – Ø/2 = 400 – 45 – 20 – 10 = 325mm

𝐴𝑠 = M/0.87 𝑥 𝑓𝑦𝑘 z
= 182.5 x 106 / (0.87 x 500 x 0.95 x 325)
= 1359 mm2/m

Provide H20 bars at 200mm centers (As = 1570mm2)

(ii) Base

The bearing pressure at US are obtain at part 2 (Bearing

pressure check) of this calculation. Using the figure from part 2:

Pressure p1 = 152.2 kN/m2

p2 = 3.2 kN/m2
p3 = 3.2 + (152.2 – 3.2) 2.2/3.4 = 99.6kN/m2

Heel: taking moments about the stem centerline for the vertical
loads and bearing pressures

3.4
𝑀𝐸𝑑 =𝛾𝑓 x 34.0 x −1 + 𝛾𝑓 𝑥 165.1 𝑥 1.3 − 3.2 𝑥 2.2 𝑥 1.3 −
2
2.2 2.2
99.6 − 3.2 𝑥 𝑥 +2
2 3
= 1.35 x 23.8 + 1.0 x 214.6 – 9.2 – 99.0
= 139 kNm
Therefore

𝑀𝐸𝑑 139 𝑥 106

2
= 2
= 0.044 = k < 0.167
𝑏𝑑 𝑓𝑐𝑘 1000 𝑥 325 𝑥 30

Z = 0.95d

𝐴𝑠 = M/0.87 𝑥 𝑓𝑦𝑘 z
= 139 x 106 / (0.87 x 500 x 0.95 x 325)
= 1035 mm2/m

Provide H20 bars at 250mm centers (As = 1260mm2) top steel

(iii) Toe

Taking moments about the stem centerline

𝑀𝐸𝑑 ≈ 𝛾𝑓 x 34.0 x 0.6 x 0.8 3.4 − 152.2 𝑥 0.8 𝑥 0.6

≈ 1.35 x 4.8 – 73.1
≈ - 67kNm

Therefore,
𝑀𝐸𝑑 67 𝑥 106
2
= 2
= 0.021 = k < 0.167
𝑏𝑑 𝑓𝑐𝑘 1000 𝑥 325 𝑥 30

Z = 0.95d

𝐴𝑠 = M/0.87 𝑥 𝑓𝑦𝑘 z
= 139 x 106 / (0.87 x 500 x 0.95 x 325)
= 1035 mm2/m
Z = 0.95d

𝐴𝑠 = M/0.87 𝑥 𝑓𝑦𝑘 z
= 67 x 106 / (0.87 x 500 x 0.95 x 325)
= 499 mm2/m

The minimum area for this and for longitudinal distribution steel
which is also required in the wall and the base

0.15𝑏𝑡 𝑑
𝐴𝑠,𝑚𝑖𝑛 =
100
= 0.0015 x 1000 x 325
= 488 mm2

Thus provide H12 at 200 centers (As = 566 mm2/m bottom and
distribution steel.