RETAINING WALLS

Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to

unnatural slopes. They are used to bound soils between two different
elevations often in areas of terrain possessing undesirable slopes or
in areas where the landscape needs to be shaped severely and
engineered for more specific purposes like hillside farming or
roadway overpasses.
A retaining wall is a structure designed and constructed to resist the
lateral pressure of soil when there is a desired change in ground
elevation that exceeds the angle of repose of the soil.
A basement wall is thus one kind of retaining wall. But the term
usually refers to a cantilever retaining wall, which is a freestanding
structure without lateral support at its top.These are cantilevered
from a footing and rise above the grade on one side to retain a
higher level grade on the opposite side. The walls must resist the
lateral pressures generated by loose soils or, in some cases,
water pressures.

TYPES OF RETAINING
WALLS

GRAVITY RETAINING WALLS

Gravity walls depend on their mass (stone, concrete or

other heavy material) to resist pressure from behind and
may have a 'batter' setback to improve stability by leaning
back toward the retained soil. For short landscaping walls,
they are often made frommortarlessstone or segmental
concrete units (masonry units).

STEEL SHEET PILE WALL

Earth retention and excavation support technique
that retains soil, using steel sheet sections with
interlocking edges
Installed in sequence to design depth along the
planned excavation perimeter or seawall alignment
Easy installation & subsequent retrieval for reuse
Ideally suited for temporary application where the
bending moment expected is not very high
Beyond certain depth (3 to 4m) this will require
either anchors or strut to reduce the bending
moment

INSTALLATION VIBRATORY HAMMERS,

IMPACT HAMMERS, HYDRAULIC PUSHING

SECANT PILE WALL

Bored-cast-in-situ piles, almost touching each other
in a row
Depending on depth of excavation, the piles can be
provided with intermittent support with anchors or struts
If the soil retained is cohesionless with high water table,
the zone between the piles may need cement grouting
or inserting additional pile
Top of all the piles is normally connected with a common
copping beam which makes all the piles as an integral
wall
Total waterproofing is very difficult to obtain in joints
Increased cost compared to steel sheet pile walls

INSTALLATION OF SECANT
PILES

ANCHORED RETAINING
WALL
includes additional strength using cables or
other stays anchored in the rock or soil behind
it. Usually driven into the material with boring,
anchors are then expanded at the end of the
cable, either by mechanical means or often by
injectingpressurized concrete, which expands
to form a bulb in the soil. Technically complex,
this method is very useful where high loads are
expected, or where the wall itself has to be
slender and would otherwise be too weak.

BERLIN WALL
Wide flange steel sections are inserted along the
excavation line with a centre to centre spacing of about 1m
Sections are either driven into the ground or they are
lowered in a pre-bored hole
Gap between the bore hole wall and the section is filled with
concrete from the bottom upto the excavation level.
Beyond this the gap is filled with soil.
Excavation is carried out in stages of 0.5 to 1m and as the
excavation progresses, wooden plank or steel formwork
plates are inserted between the steel sections to retain the
soil
The horizontal thrust of retained earth is transferred to the
steel section through the flange.

BERLIN WALL

NAILED WALL
As the excavation progresses, the vertical face of the
excavation is supported by either steel plate or wooden
plank which is nailed into the ground using long
reinforcement rod
After nailing the plate, the excavation is advanced by
further 0.6 to 1m and another plate/plank is placed and
nailed
Planks/plates as well as the nails can rerieved for reuse
However unlike other methods, it is not possible to have a
vertical cut. The face of the retained earth is normally
inclined at 70 to 80 degrees with the horizontal.

INSTALLATION OF NAILED
WALL

SOME ALTERNATE
TECHNIQUES

CELLULAR CONFINEMENT
Cellular Confinement grid can also be infilled and
stacked to create a near vertical retaining wall
system. The process is easy, fast and economical.
Workers use a field constructed wooden frame to
stretch the sections to the proper size, then
adjacent sections are stapled together and infilled
with soil or granular materials. The cells hold the
soil in place, and also provide drainage
throughout the structure. Soil filling the outer cells
of the system allows for these retaining wall
systems to be vegetated and give the wall an
environmentally pleasing look.

CELLULAR CONFINEMENT

RCC DIAPHRAGM WALL

Used either for
temporary use or for
permanent use as
basement wall
Unlike steel sheet pile
cant be retrieved
However there are cases
where RCC diaphragm
wall has been used as a
temporary wall
Due to much higher
rigidity compared to
steel sheet pile, this wall

SOIL -STRENGTHENED
A number of systems exist that do not consist of just the
wall, but reduce the earth pressure acting directly on the
wall. These are usually used in combination with one of the
other wall types, though some may only use it as
facing,i.e., for visual purposes.
This type of soil strengthening, often also used without an
outside wall, consists ofwiremesh"boxes", which are filled
with roughly cut stone or other material. The mesh cages
reduce some internal movement and forces, and also
reduce erosive forces. Gabion walls are free-draining
retaining structures and as such are often built in locations
where ground water is present. However, management and
control of the ground water in and around all retaining walls
is important.

GABION RETAINING WALL

SOIL MOVEMENT DUE TO EXCAVATION

SOIL MOVEMENT DUE TO EXCAVATION

Forces acting on the

retaining wall:
Lateral forces: Earth pressure due to backfill and
surcharge.

Vertical forces:
Acting downwards:
Self weight of the retaining wall ;
Weight of soil above heel slab.
Acting upwards:
Force due to soil pressure underneath the base
slab.

Earth pressures:
(a) On stem: Earth

pressure on the stem

from backfill (active
earth pressure) varies
linearly. According to
Rankines theory at
depth h below the top
of wall is given by

Ka

pa = kah

where ka =
Coefficient of active
earth pressure
ka = 1-sin
1+sin
= Angle of internal
friction of soil
= Unit weight of back fill

Pa=1/2ka
H2

H/
3

Ka

Incase of
backfill with
surcharge;

The surcharge on
backfill may be due
to traffic load on
top of back fill or
due to a structure
near it.
If ws is the
surcharge pressure
on horizontally
finished back fill,
then uniform effect
of surcharge on
stem is given by;
p s = ka w s

ws

pa
ps

If backfill is
sloping;
For sloping black fill, the
pressure on stem is parallel
to top surface and is given
by;
pa = kah
ka = cos cos - cos2

cos +
- cos2

cos2

cos2

where,
is angle of slope of
backfill with
horizontal.
(also reffered as surcharge
angle)
k is coeff. Of active
earth pressure for such
case.

Stability Conditions:
A retaining wall must be stable as a whole,
and it must have sufficient strength to resist
the forces acting on it.
In order that the wall may be stable, the
following conditions should be satisfied:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

The wall must be strong enough to resist

the bending moment and shear force.
The wall should not overturn.
Maximum pressure at base should not
exceed the SBC of soil.
The wall should not slide due to lateral
pressure.

Failure of Retaining walls

Failure of retaining walls is more frequent as compared to other RC

structures due to

The individual components of the wall may fail

Poor design assumptions

Changing and unpredictable subsoil and backfilled conditions

Poor masonry work/material strength and improper bonding

Lack of drainage facilities and provisions

The wall as a whole may be displaced due to sliding

The wall may get overturned

The factor of safety against the sliding must be at least 1.5

The pressure under the footing must not exceed the allowable bearing
capacity of soil

Measures to avoid failure of

retaining wall
Drainage:
The lack of proper drainage is the most common
reason for retaining wall failure.
When water is absorbed into the soil behind a
retaining wall and it has no place to go, the pressure
behind the wall is increased. If the water continues
to build up, it will eventually push the wall out,
causing it to bulge or collapse.
Installing drain pipes and using a clean, granular
rock for both the backfill and the base of the wall will
allow water to drain out. The pressure will be
released and wall failure will be prevented.

 Compaction.
Poor compaction will eventually cause a
retaining wall to shift, producing large
gaps within the wall.
The soil needs to be compacted once at
the point of excavation, again after the
gravel base has been added, and each
time backfill is added.
The most effective way to do this is to use
a piece of machinery called a compactor.

 Reinforcements.
The type of reinforcements needed depends
on a number of factors the soil conditions,
the type of material being used to build the
wall, and the height of the wall.
The most common type of reinforcement for
modular block retaining walls and rock
retaining walls is geogrid.
Geogrid is a mesh-like fabric that helps
stabilize the soil and secure the wall. It is
normally added every 2 or 3 courses.

references
Bowles, J.,(1968). Foundation Analysis and Design,
McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York
Building Code (Building Codes Illustrated) (2 ed.). New York,
NY: Wiley.
Ambrose,J. (1991). Simplified Design of Masonry
Structures (pp. 70-75.). New York: John Wiley and
Sons, Inc.