Saint Mary’s University

School of Engineering, Architecture, and Information Technology

Retaining
Walls
CE 422b Foundation & Retaining Wall Design

Engr. Andres P. Gualon Jr., MSCE

Faculty of Civil Engineering – SEAIT

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 CE 422b Foundation & Retaining Wall Design

Introduction
In this Chapter, we will discuss
1. Lateral Earth Pressure (review
from Soil Mechanics)
2. Retaining Walls

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 Lateral Earth
Pressures
(Review from Soil Mechanics)

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 CE 422b Foundation & Retaining Wall Design

1. Lateral Earth Pressure

• Conditions of Lateral Earth Pressure

Case 1: Case 2: Case 3:

Wall is at static equilibrium Wall tends to move away from Wall tends to move towards
the soil the soil
AT REST CONDITION ACTIVE CONDITION PASSIVE CONDITION

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At Rest Lateral Earth Pressure

𝜎ℎ′ = 𝐾𝑜 𝜎𝑜 ′
Emperical Relationships of Ko
1. For coarse-grained Soil (Jaky, 1944)

2. For overconsolidated soil, the at-rest earth

pressure coefficient may be expressed as
(Mayne and Kulhawy, 1982)

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Lateral Earth Pressures

ACTIVE STATE PASSIVE STATE

𝜎′𝑎 = 𝜎′𝑜 𝐾𝑎 − 2𝑐′ 𝐾𝑎

𝜎′𝑝 = 𝜎′𝑜 𝐾𝑝 + 2𝑐′ 𝐾𝑝

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2. Rankine’s Lateral Earth Pressure Coef.

Failure
Failure Wedge
Wedge
z z
θ

σ’o σ’o

σ’a σ’p
θ 𝜙′
𝜙′ 𝜃 = 45 +
𝜃 = 45 − 2
2
𝜎′𝑎 = 𝜎′𝑜 𝐾𝑎 − 2𝑐′ 𝐾𝑎 𝜎′𝑝 = 𝜎′𝑜 𝐾𝑝 + 2𝑐′ 𝐾𝑝
1 − sin 𝜙′ 𝜙′ 1 + sin 𝜙′ 𝜙′
𝐾𝑎 = = 𝑡𝑎𝑛2 45 − 𝐾𝑝 = = 𝑡𝑎𝑛2 45 +
1 + sin 𝜙′ 2 1 − sin 𝜙 2
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Rankine’s Generalized Case

ACTIVE STATE

PASSIVE STATE

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3. Coulomb’s Lateral Earth Pressure Coef.

ACTIVE STATE

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3. Coulomb’s Lateral Earth Pressure Coef.

PASSIVE STATE

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Retaining Walls

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Introduction
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
5. Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) Walls

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Design Considerations
• To design retaining walls properly, an engineer
must know the basic parameters— the unit
weight, angle of friction, and cohesion - of the
soil retained behind the wall and the soil below
the base slab
• Phases in the Design
1. Stability Check
 Overturning
 Sliding
 Bearing Capacity
2. Structural Design
 Strength (Dimension, shear)
 Steel reinforcement (flexure)

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Proportioning of Retaining Walls

In designing retaining walls, an
engineer must assume some of
their dimensions, called
proportioning. Such assumptions
allow the engineer to check trial
sections of the walls for stability.
If the stability checks yield
undesirable results, the sections
can be changed and rechecked.

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Application of Lateral Earth Pressure Theories

to Design

Cantilever Ret. Gravity Ret. Wall Gravity Ret. Wall

Wall (Rankine) (Coulomb)
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Stability of Retaining Walls

A retaining wall may fail in any of the following ways:
1. It may overturn about its toe.
2. It may slide along its base.
3. It may fail due to the loss of bearing capacity of the
soil supporting the base.
4. It may undergo deep-seated shear failure. (1) (2)
5. It may go through excessive settlement.
6. Deep Shear Failure

(3) (4)
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Check for Overturning

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Check for Sliding

Alternatives of Increasing
the FS for Sliding

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Check for Bearing Capacity Failure

Soil Bearing Pressure

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Structural Design

For Cantilever Retaining Walls

1. Design of stem for flexure
2. Design of base for flexure

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