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Stone - Retaining Wall Design PDF
Stone - Retaining Wall Design PDF
Stone - Retaining Wall Design PDF
Foreword
The Department of Engineering Services is pleased to bring out the
“Design and Construction of Gravity Stone Masonry Retaining
Walls: A Quick Guide” for the benefit of all engineers and builders.
Though stone masonry retaining walls are simple structures and
commonly built in every nook and corner of the country for various
earth retaining purposes, yet many problems are encountered in the
field as a result of either improper design or poor quality
constructions. These problems arise mainly due to the fact that
engineers in the field are bogged down with numerous
responsibilities and often do not find time to carry out proper design.
Also during execution, negligence of some important aspects such as
drainage and use of inferior materials add to the issues.
This Quick Guide is aimed at providing guidance to designers so that
site specific design calculations can be done. Further standard
designs are also provided which can be followed for normal soil
conditions. For all important projects, site specific designs should be
carried out and the standard designs shall only be used as a
reference.
I hope this guideline would be of some benefit to all our engineers.
Tenzin
Director
2. Scope ................................................................................................... 2
5. Design Criteria................................................................................... 5
1. Introduction
Stone masonry retaining walls are gravity type retaining walls
commonly used to retain earth or fill materials and basically retains
earth pressures by virtue of its self-weight.
Gravity type stone masonry retaining walls are basic and simple
structures which are commonly built with locally available stones. It
can be built to varying shapes and sizes, provided proper design
procedure is followed. However, beyond 6m height, stone masonry
walls becomes un-economical as it requires large base widths.
Most often retaining walls are designed for static loads and not for
seismic forces as it is easier to repair failed walls. In this guideline,
standard designs have been provided for static loads only. It is
expected to provide quick guidance to engineers in the field both in
terms of design and construction. However, it should be noted that
engineers should verify design based on actual site conditions and
the standard designs provided in this guide should be used only as a
reference. Further, other considerations such as drainage, foundation
requirements, through stones etc. improves the functioning of the
wall and appropriate provisions shall be specified in the design.
2. Scope
This guideline provides the fundamentals of design of stone masonry
retaining walls. The main purpose is to provide standard designs of
stone masonry retaining wall that can be easily followed by
engineers in the field. It should be noted that the standard designs
are provided only for heights up to 6m as it becomes uneconomical
beyond this height.
However, these standard designs should be adopted with caution
depending on actual site conditions. For all important projects,
engineers are required to carry out site specific design calculations.
5. Design Criteria
In design of stone masonry retaining walls, first the anticipated
loads on the structure should be considered and then evaluate
the safety of the structure based on standard criteria.
The loads to be considered in the design are:
Self-weight of the structure;
Imposed dead loads and live loads if any;
Earth pressures
Seismic loads if it is to be designed for earthquakes forces
Pore-water pressure
Surcharge loads if any
Special loads if any
The structure then should be evaluated for safety using following
criteria:
a) Factor of Safety against overturning > 2.0 for static loads
>1.5 with seismic forces
b) Factor of safety against sliding >1.5 for static loads
>1.0 with seismic forces
c) Maximum base pressure ≤ qa(allowable bearing capacity)
≤ 1.33 qa(during earthquakes)
d) Minimum base pressure > 0 (zero)
e) Factory of safety against floatation > 1.25
f) for steep hills, factor of safety for slip surface > 1.5 static
> 1.0 seismic
Notes:
1. Retaining walls are generally designed for static loads without
considering seismic loads. The reason being, the failed retaining
walls are easy to repair than going for heavy and costly walls
considering seismic forces.
2. For checking overturning and sliding, live and imposed loads
adding to the stability of the structure shall not be considered.
7. Standard Designs
Table 3: Soil Properties considered/assumed for standard
designs
Standard Designs
8. Other Considerations
8.2 Drainage
Drainage is an important aspect of retaining wall construction. For
proper functioning of the wall, following drainage provisions shall
be provided:
8.8 Curing
When cementer mortar is used, the wall shall be properly
cured for a minimum of two weeks to attain good bonding
strength.
8.9 Aesthetics
The stability and safety are of primary concerns. However,
depending on site conditions and location, retaining walls
shall be aesthetically appealing as well.
9. Sample Calculations
a) Sample calculation for 4 m high stone masonry retaining wall
without surcharge load with following data. Refer figure 9 for
pressure distribution diagram. The dimensions of walls can be
taken from preliminary design and check for standard
criterion.
Table 6: Input Data for Sample Calculation (a)
1 Height H 4 m
sl no Load Magnitude (KN) Distance from Toe (m) B.M about Toe (KN-m) Remarks
1 W1 0.6*4*24 57.60 1.80 103.68
2 W2 0.5*(2.1-0.6)*4*24 72.00 1.00 72.00
∑W 129.60 175.68 ∑M R
𝑚 = 1+
33.35 Safe
𝑚 = 1−
90.07 Safe
Horizontal Earth Pressure Ph= Ka*γ*H2 /2 act at H/3 from wall base
∑W is the total vertical load
∑M R is the total restoring moment
M O is the total overturning moment
μ is the coeff. Of friction between wall and soil interface taken as 0.6
Design Calculation for Stone Masonry in Cement Mortar with surcharge angle of 15ᶿ
Distance from B.M about
sl no Load Magnitude (KN) Toe (m) Toe (KN-m) Remarks
1 W1 0.8x5x24 96.00 2.25 216.00
2 W2 0.5x(2.65-0.8)x5x24 111.00 1.23 136.90
∑W 207.00 352.90 ∑M R
2
3 Ph Ph= Ka*γ*H *Cos(β)/2 79.25 1.67 132.09 M O
𝑚 = 1−
31.48 Safe
𝑚 = 1+
134.12 Safe
2
Horizontal Earth Pressure Ph= Ka*γ*H /2 act at
H/3 from wall base
∑W is the total vertical load
∑M R is the total restoring moment
M O is the total overturning moment
μ is the coeff. Of friction between wall and soil interface taken as 0.6
10. References
IS 14458:Part 1: Guidelines for Retaining Wall for hilly area:
Part 1: Selection of Type of Walls
IS 14458:Part 2: Guidelines for Retaining Wall for hilly area:
Part 2: Design of retaining/breast walls
IS 14458:Part 3: Guidelines for Retaining Wall for hilly area:
Part 3: Construction of Dry stone walls
Guidelines on use of Standard Work Items for Common
Road Works 2010, Department of Roads, MoWHS
Basic and Applied Soil Mechanics, Gopal Ranjan& A.S.R
Rao
Design of Reinforced Concrete Structures, S. Ramamrutham