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Note 9  Level 2

32 TheStructuralEngineer Technical
January 2014 Technical Guidance Note

Designing a reinforced
concrete retaining wall
Introduction ICON • Design principles
Although retaining walls have been the subject of two earlier Technical LEGEND
Guidance Notes; No. 8 (Level 1): Derivation of loading to retaining structures
• Applied practice
and No. 33 (Level 1): Retaining wall construction, their design has not been
covered. This guidance note focuses specifically on the design of reinforced
concrete gravity retaining walls. • Worked example

There are three different forms of this type of wall, all of which are
designed to resist overturning and sliding failure. The primary difference • Further reading
between them is their height. The taller the retaining wall, the more likely that
counterforts and beams spanning between them will be necessary. This note • Web resources
describes how all of these forms of retaining wall can be designed.

it, lies within the middle-third of the base to

the retaining wall. In instances where such a
• Figure 1
Reinforced
concrete cantilever
Design principles condition is not possible, there is likely to be retaining wall

an increase in the bearing stress applied to

Reinforced concrete retaining walls have to
be able to support the forces that originate
from the lateral earth and water pressures
that exist within soils. They have to be
sufficiently stiff, so not to let the retained
material shift to the extent that it will cause
the resultant force to move to a location that
would cause the retaining wall to fail. It is
because of this, as well as the magnitudes
of the forces that are being exerted onto
the retaining walls, that stiffening elements
become necessary, in order to reduce
the lateral movement of the wall at higher
elevations.
For the shortest form of retaining wall, only
two elements need to be designed; the wall
and the base it is supported from. Both are
subjected to high bending moments and
shear forces and care must be taken to
ensure that these are addressed. These are
referred to as cantilever walls due to the
monolithic connection they have with their
base (Figure 1).
When designing cantilever retaining walls,
two separate checks are required. The first
is the stability of the wall and the second is
the design of the wall’s elements. Stability is
dependent on its dimensions and how the
various forces that are exerted onto the wall
affect it. As with pad foundation design, it
is preferable to ensure the resultant force
from the soil and any surcharge placed upon
the soil due to the reduced area of contact
between the base and the bearing strata.
This is a result of the uplift that occurs in the
base of the retaining wall, causing the area
bearing onto the soil to be reduced. This
is explained in further detail in Technical
Guidance Note No. 7 (Level 2): Designing a
concrete pad foundation.
The combination of forces and their
corresponding partial factors (when
checking for stability) are explained in
Technical Guidance Note No. 8 (Level 1):
Derivation of loading to retaining structures.
It is not uncommon to include a downstand
beam to the soffit of the base, often referred
to as a ‘heel beam’ to enhance the retaining
wall’s ability to resist sliding. This does,
however, increase the complexity of building uniform. In cases where there is significant
the retaining wall structure. doubt over the nature of the soil (due to a
lack of site investigation survey data) further
All of the analysis so far described assumes geotechnical analysis of the retaining wall’s
that the consistency of the founding soil impact on the soil profile is recommended. A
material is relatively well understood and good example of this would be a slip-circle
mode of failure analysis.
"When designing It is also important to note that the design
cantilever retaining of retaining walls is very much an iterative
process, with the various geometric
walls, two separate elements altered until the entire structure
complies with all of the design criteria. It
checks are required" is not unusual therefore, for engineers to
design multiple wall configurations before an
optimum solution is found.

This version 1.1 published October 2016.

 www.thestructuralengineer.org

33

Design of elements Designing a concrete slab. Eurocode 0.

The initial step is to establish whether
or not the proposed geometry is stable.
This condition is referred to as EQU and it
carries with it unique partial factors:
• Gk,j is the partial factor for permanent
actions e.g. soil lateral pressure and weight.
It has a value of 1.1 if it acts unfavourably to
stability and 0.9 if it acts favourably
• Qk,1 is the partial factor for the leading
frequent variable action e.g. surcharge. It
has a value of 1.5 if it acts unfavourably to
stability and 0 if it acts favourably
When designing the elements within a
retaining wall, the partial factors for
ultimate limit state apply, which are referred
The minimum amount of reinforcement in a
retaining wall should be as follows:
• Vertical reinforcement: 0.002Ac with the
smallest bar being 12mm diameter in
each face
• Horizontal reinforcement: 25% of
the vertical reinforcement or 0.002Ac
(whichever is the greater) in each face
The maximum amount of reinforcement can
be no greater than 0.04Ac.
Where:
Ac is the cross sectional area of the
retaining wall per metre length.
Applied practice
BS EN 1990-1 Eurocode 0: Basis of Design
BS EN 1992-1-1 Eurocode 2: Design of Concrete
Structures – Part 1-1: General Rules for Buildings
BS EN 1992-1-1 UK National Annex to
Eurocode 2: Design of Concrete Structures
– Part 1-1: General Rules for Buildings
BS EN 1997-1 Eurocode 7: Geotechnical
Design – Part 1 General Rules
BS EN 1997-1 UK National Annex to Eurocode
7: Geotechnical Design – Part 1 General Rules

•
to as STR and can be summarised
Figure 2
as follows: Counterfort retaining walls

• Gk,j is the partial factor for permanent

actions e.g. soil lateral pressure and weight
and has a value of 1.35

• Qk,1 is the partial factor for the leading

frequent variable action e.g. surcharge and
has a value of 1.5

Cantilever retaining walls have the base

designed as a slab with a concentrated
bending moment where it interfaces with the
retaining wall. It must also be designed to
resist the effects of soil pressures, from both
the retaining wall and the soil on which it is
founded. The wall itself is a cantilever beam/
slab that is considered per metre length.

Taller gravity retaining walls typically adopt

the counterfort form of construction and Worked example
their design can be broken down into
simple components. The counterfort acts
A 5.0m tall cantilever retaining wall is formed from C30/37 concrete and reinforced with
like a cantilevering beam and the retaining
500 N/mm2 high tensile steel bars. It is placed in a granular soil that has a density of 18
wall is a continuous slab supported by the
kN/m3. The water table is below the level of the base to the retaining wall and there is a
counterforts. Where additional beams are
surcharge of 10 kN/m2. The angle of shear resistance φ is 30º, the coefficient of friction
included for taller walls, they are designed
between the soil and the concrete is 0.45 and the bearing capacity of the soil is 250kN/m2.
as continuous flanged beams that span
Check to see if the proposed size of the elements that make up the retaining wall
between counterforts. All of these elements
(Figure 3) are suitable, and determine the amount of reinforcement required within them.
have been covered in Technical Guidance
Notes 3 and 4 (Level 2): Designing a
concrete slab and Designing a concrete
beam. Figure 2 shows counterfort retaining
walls, one of which has stiffener beams due
Assumed
to its height. excavation

Reinforcement detailing
Retaining walls are typically constructed
using C28/35 concrete or stronger. The
cover to the reinforcement that is exposed
to the soil is 45mm + Dcdev and the external
face is 35mm + Dcdev. Instructions on how to
calculate cover to reinforcement are found • Figure 3
Retaining wall (worked example)
Pivot point
at toe
in Technical Guidance Note No. 3 (Level 2):
 ›
Note 9  Level 2

34 TheStructuralEngineer Technical
January 2014 Technical Guidance Note
 www.thestructuralengineer.org

35

Glossary and
further reading

Counterfort – a pier within a tall gravity

retaining wall.

Heel beam – a horizontal element typically

installed along the edge of the retaining wall
base to the retaining wall.

Further Reading
Mosley W. H., Hulse R. and Bungey J.H. (2012)
Reinforced Concrete Design to Eurocode 2
(7th ed.) Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave MacMillan

Reynolds C. E., Steedman J. C. and Threlfall

A. J. (2007) Reynold’s Reinforced Concrete
Designer’s Handbook (11th ed.) Oxford, UK:
Taylor & Francis

The Institution of Structural Engineers

(2006) Manual for the Design of Concrete
Building Structures to Eurocode 2 London:
The Institution of Structural Engineers

The Institution of Structural Engineers

(2006) Standard Method of Detailing
Structural Concrete: A manual for best
practice (3rd ed.) London: The Institution of
Structural Engineers

Eurocode 0.
Web resources

The Concrete Centre:

www.concretecentre.com/

The Institution of Structural Engineers library:

www.istructe.org/resources-centre/library