1 RETAINING WALLS

The fundamental requirement is that the wall is capable of holding the retaining material in place
without undue movement arising from deflection, overturning or sliding.
1.1 Types of retaining walls
1.1.1 Gravity walls

• Constructed of mass concrete with reinforcement included in the faces to restrict thermal and
shrinkage cracking.
• The stability relies on the self-weight of the walls
• Self-weight and overturning forces (Resultant) must lie within the middle third at the interface of
the base and soil. This ensures the uplift is avoided at this interface.
• Friction effects which resist sliding are thus maintained across the entire base.
• Bending, shear, and deflections of such walls are usually insignificant in view of the large
effective depth of the section.
• Great care must be taken to reduce hydration temperatures by mix design, construction procedure
and curing techniques.

1.1.2 Counterfort walls

• Used where the overall height of wall is too large to be constructed economically either in mass
concrete or cantilever.
• It is assumed that the earth pressure act on a thin wall which spans horizontally between the
massive counterforts.
• The wall and counterfort, with the backfill and large base weight, must provide stability
requirements
• The counterforts are designed with reinforcement to act as cantilevers to resist the considerable
bending moments that are concentrated at these points
• The spacing of the counterforts are governed by the above factors, coupled with satisfactory span-
depth ratio of the wall slab
• Requires more reinforcements.
1.1.3 Cantilever walls

• These are designed as vertical cantilevers spanning from a large rigid base which often relies on
the weight of the back fill on the base to provide stability.
• Stability calculations same as that of gravity retaining walls

1.2 Analysis and design

The analysis is split into three stages:

• Stability analysis-ultimate limit state

• Bearing pressure analysis
• Member design and detailing
1.2.1 Stability analysis
• When a maximum horizontal force acts with a minimum vertical load, stability failure will occur
• Factors of safety to the forces and loads are applied to guard against the stability failure. Partial
load factors, 𝛾𝑓 =1.4 for dead load and 𝛾𝑓 = 1.6 for live load are appropriate to strength
calculations. Higher factors should be used for stability calculations.
• If the force is hydrostatic and well defined, a factor of 𝛾𝑓 =1.4 may be used. A partial factor of
𝛾𝑓 = 1.0 is usually applied to the dead load, Gk.
For resistance to overturning, moment would normally be taken about the toe of the base, point A. Thus
the requirement is that.
1.0𝐺𝑘 𝑥 ≥ 𝛾𝑓𝐻𝑘 𝑦

Resistance to sliding is provided by friction between the base surface and the ground and thus it is related
to the total self-weight.
Resistance provided by the passive earth pressure on the front face of the base may make some contribution,
but since the materials is often backfilled against the face, the resistance cannot be guaranteed and is usually
ignored.

If the coefficient of friction, 𝜇, the total friction force will be given by 𝜇𝐺𝑘 for the length of the wall of
weight 𝐺𝑘 and the requirement is that

1.0𝜇𝐺𝑘 𝑥 ≥ 𝛾𝑓 𝐻𝑘

Where 𝐻𝑘 is the horizontal force on this length of wall.

If the criterion is not met, the heel beam may be used and the force due to the passive earth pressure over
the face area of the heal may be included in resisting the sliding force. The partial load factor 𝛾𝑓 on the
heel beam force should be taken as 1.0 to give the worst condition. To ensure the proper action of a heel
beam, the front face must be cast directly against sound, undisturbed material, and it is important that this
is not overlooked during construction.
On considering cantilever walls, a considerable amount of backfill is often placed on top of the base, and
this is taken into account in the stability analysis. The forces acting are shown in the figure below. In
addition to 𝐺𝑘 and 𝐻𝑘 there is an additional vertical load 𝑉𝑘 due to the material above the base acting at a
distance q from the toe. The worst conditions for stability will be when this is at minimum, therefore a
partial load factor 𝛾𝑓=1.0 is appropriate. The stability requirements then become

1.0𝐺𝑘 𝑥 + 1.0𝑉𝑘 ≥ 𝛾𝑓 𝐻𝑘𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔

 𝜇(1.0𝐺𝑘 + 1.0𝑉𝑘 ≥ 𝛾𝑓𝐻𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔

When the heel beam is provided the additional passive resistance of the earth must be inlcuded int the
above equation for sliding.

Full slip-circle analysis from soil mechanics can be perform or factor of safety can be increased if the
there is any doubt on foundation materials
1.2.3 Bearing pressure analysis
Bearing pressure underneath retaining walls are assessed on the basis of the serviceability limit state when
determining the size of base that is required.

𝑀 = 𝛾𝑓1 𝐻𝑘𝑦 − 𝛾𝑓2 𝐺𝑘(𝑥) − 𝛾𝑓3𝑉𝑘 (𝑞)

And the vertical load is

𝑁 = 𝛾𝑓2 𝐺𝑘 + 𝛾𝑓3 𝑉𝑘

Where the partial factors of safety are

𝛾𝑓1 = 𝛾𝑓2 = 𝛾𝑓3 = 1.0

The effective eccentricity lies within the “middle third” of the base”, e=eccentricity
𝑀 𝐷
𝑒= ≤
𝑁 6
The maximum bearing pressure is given by:
𝑁 𝑀 𝐷
𝑝1 = + ×
𝐷 𝐼 2
𝐷3
Where 𝐼 = therefore
12
 𝑁 6𝑀
𝑝1 = +
𝐷 𝐷2

And
𝑁 6𝑀
𝑝2 = −
𝐷 𝐷2
1.3 Member Design and Detailing
• Design of bending and shear reinforcement is based on analysis of the loads for the ultimate state,
with the corresponding bearing pressures.
• Gravity wall will seldom require bending or shear steel reinforcement, while the walls in
counterfort and cantilever construction will be designed as slabs.
• The design of counterforts will generally be similar to that of a cantilever beam unless they are
massive.
• With cantilever-type retaining wall the stem is designed to resist the moment caused by the force
𝛾𝑓 𝐻𝑓 with 𝛾𝑓 = 1.4 or larger, depending on how accurately the load may be predicted.
• Thickness of the wall can be taken as 80mm per meter depth of backfill.
• The thickness of the base is usually of the same order as that of the stem. The heel and toe must be
designed to resist the moments due to the upward earth pressures and the downward weight of the
soil and base.
• Should the resultant lie outside the “middle third”,(e>D/6) the bearing pressure should be calculated
using

2𝑁
𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑝 = 𝐷
3𝐵( − 𝑒)
2
• Reinforcement detailing must follow the general rules for slabs and beams as appropriate. Particular
care must be given to the detailing of reinforcement to limit shrinkage and thermal cracking.
• Reinforcement in the bases must be adequate to control cracking caused by a high degree of
restraint.
• The back face of a retaining wall can be subjected to hydrostatic forces from groundwater. This
may be reduced by the provision of a drainage path at the face of the wall. The drain can be
provided by a layer of rubble or porous blocks, with pipes to remove the water, often through to
the front of the wall. This also minimizes the likelihood of leakage through the wall is reduced,
and water is also less likely to reach and damage the soil beneath the foundations of the wall.