EARTH STRUCTURES LECTURES

For M. Sc. Course – CE5302

Asst. Prof. Dr. Mohammed Shaker Al Shakerchy

Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering / University of Kufa

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EARTH STRUCTURES LECTURES by Dr. Mohammed Sh. M. Al Shakerchy
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Design of Backfilled Walls

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BACKFILLED WALLS Rigid Walls
 Gravity and reinforced concrete cantilever walls are commonly used for relatively
low retaining structures, although walls of up to 8-10 meters are not unheard of.
 Conventional 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
 The design of this group of structures falls into five stages:
1. Selection of suitable wall types,
2. Preliminary wall sizing and layout,
3. Selection of soil parameters,
4. External stability and
5. Internal stability and wall detailing.

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BACKFILLED WALLS Rigid Walls
External Stability
The calculations treat the wall as a unit, and consider its equilibrium in the
following ways:
 Moment equilibrium: the structure should have an adequate
factor of safety against overturning.
 Horizontal force equilibrium: the structure should not slide
forward under the applied horizontal forces.
 Vertical force equilibrium: there should be an adequate
factor of safety against bearing capacity failure.
 Overall stability: the change in ground surface geometry
caused by the construction of the wall should not induced a
failure around the wall itself.
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BACKFILLED WALLS Rigid Walls
External Stability
Application of Lateral Earth Pressure Theories to Design
 The assumption for the development of Rankine active pressure along the soil face AB is
theoretically correct if the shear zone bounded by the line AC is not obstructed by the stem of
the wall. The angle, that the line AC makes with the vertical is

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BACKFILLED WALLS Rigid Walls
External Stability
Application of Lateral Earth Pressure Theories to Design
 If Coulomb’s theory is used, it will be necessary to know the range of the wall friction angle d’
with various types of backfill material. Following are some ranges of wall friction angle for
masonry or mass concrete walls:

 In the case of ordinary retaining walls, water table

problems and hence hydrostatic pressure are not
encountered. Facilities for drainage from the soils that
are retained are always provided.
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BACKFILLED WALLS Rigid Walls
External Stability
Checking for Overturning

7 usual minimum desirable value of the FS with respect to overturning is 2 to 3.

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EARTH STRUCTURES LECTURES by Dr. Mohammed Sh. M. Al Shakerchy
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BACKFILLED WALLS Rigid Walls
External Stability
Checking for Overturning
To calculate the resisting moment, (neglecting ), a table can be prepared. The weight of
the soil above the heel and the weight of the concrete (or masonry) are both forces that
contribute to the resisting moment. Note that the force also contributes to the resisting
moment

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EARTH STRUCTURES LECTURES by Dr. Mohammed Sh. M. Al Shakerchy
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BACKFILLED WALLS Rigid Walls
External Stability
Checking for Sliding

maximum resisting force that can be derived from the soil per unit length of the wall

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BACKFILLED WALLS Rigid Walls
External Stability
Checking for Sliding

A minimum factor of safety of 1.5 against sliding is generally required

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BACKFILLED WALLS Rigid Walls
External Stability
Checking for Sliding
If the desired value of is not achieved, several alternatives may be investigated:
 Increase the width of the base slab (i.e., the heel of the footing).
 Use a key to the base slab. If a key is included, the passive force per unit length of
the wall becomes .
 Use a deadman anchor at the stem of the retaining wall

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BACKFILLED WALLS Rigid Walls
External Stability
Checking for Bearing Capacity
 The vertical pressure transmitted to the soil by
the base slab of the retaining wall should be
checked against the ultimate bearing capacity of
the soil.
 The sum of the vertical forces acting on the base
slab is

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BACKFILLED WALLS Rigid Walls
External Stability
Checking for Bearing Capacity

the ultimate bearing capacity of a shallow foundation

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BACKFILLED WALLS Rigid Walls
External Stability
Checking for Bearing Capacity

a factor of safety of 3 is required. We noted that

the ultimate bearing capacity of shallow
foundations occurs at a settlement of about 10%
of the foundation width.

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BACKFILLED WALLS Rigid Walls
External Stability
Example-7
Calculate the factors of safety with respect to
overturning, sliding, and bearing capacity.

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Example-7

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Example-7

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Example-7

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Example-7

Soil bearing capacity equation

Eq. 8.22 in the ref. book
“Principles of Foundation
Engineering” by Braja Das, 7th
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Example-7

Table 3.3 in the same

reference book

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Example-7

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Question?

Any further information

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Online Quiz and Homework

E-learning system (Moodle)
Web Site of Faculty of Engineering
http://elearning.uokufa.edu.iq/moodle/eng/

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