EARTH RETAINING SYSTEMS
Béatrice Baudet ([Link]@[Link])
Room GM16b
Ext: 51014 1
Gravity walls are among the oldest structures that man built. They were
used:
● to build terraces for agriculture,
Cutting and retaining wall, London (~1900)
City of Machu Pichu, Peru
●Amphitheatre
in forts and in
toEpidaure,
protect cities,
(~1400AD)
Greece
●(~300BC)
to build other civil engineering structures e.g. waterworks
Terraces in Mycenes, Greece
(~2000BC)
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Photos courtesy of Dr O’Sullivan
Designing a wall today is different from earlier times.
More theory is known.
More data have been collected empirical laws.
Increasingly problematic designs, with many constraints
e.g. construction in urban areas, where ground
movements should be less than 0.1% for retaining walls.
London, UK Courtesy of Dr O’Sullivan Hong Kong University Courtesy of Li Qiang3
Examples of problems associated with retaining wall movements,
and failures.
● Ground movement
Cracks in asphalt road caused by
lateral displacement of retaining
wall during Taiwan (Chi-Chi)
earthquake, 1999
([Link]
4
● Ground movement
(courtesy of Prof. Vaunat)
5
● Water
(courtesy of Prof. Vaunat)
6
● Water
Soil dragged by water
(courtesy of Prof. Vaunat)
7
● Failure
by toppling
(courtesy of Prof. Vaunat)
8
● Failure
general failure
(courtesy of Prof. Vaunat)
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● Failure
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(courtesy of Prof. Vaunat)
MAIN TYPES OF RETAINING WALLS
a. Gravity walls
i. Mass gravity walls (mass concrete, masonry, gabions)
ii. L-shaped reinforced concrete walls
b. Cantilever walls
i. Sheet piling
ii. Contiguous piles
iii. Secant piles
iv. Diaphragm walls
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a. GRAVITY WALLS
restoring moment
Active pressure from wall self-weight
pushes against the horizontal
wall, destabilizing it. force
overturning
moment
frictional force
along the base
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Two main classes of gravity wall:
No tension develops Design for tensile stresses
reinforced concrete stem wall
i. mass gravity wall ii. L-shaped gravity wall
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Mass gravity wall – failure mechanisms
sliding
bearing capacity
overall stability
(Atkinson, 2007) 14
L-shaped gravity wall
Mass of soil above heel
to wall contributes to
stability.
reinforced concrete stem wall
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L-shaped gravity wall – failure mechanisms
rotational instability
structural failure of
elements of wall
(Coduto, 2001) 16
Example of mass gravity retaining wall: gabions
wire mesh boxes filled with rockfill
place side by side to form single
gravity structure
Construction of gabion retaining wall at M606/M62
junction, West Yorkshire (Maccaferri, 2008)
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(Chapman, 2000)
L-shaped gravity retaining walls
(Image Source:
[Link]
(Coduto, 2001) [Link]?item=4&projid=1)
Designed for tension – reinforcement
needed
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L-shaped gravity retaining walls
(Chapman, 2000) Precast walls
([Link]/l_t_shape_panels.htm)
([Link]/[Link]?page=360)
Precast wall + cladding installation
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([Link]/contractwebsites/cr/progress%20photos/HY200506_photos/
[Link]?item=4&projid=1)
Excavation support
b. CANTILEVER WALLS Basements
Quay walls
Sometimes support
Active pressure is added.
pushes against the
wall, destabilizing it.
Passive pressure
pushes against
the wall,
resisting the
active pressure.
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Cantilever retaining walls: support mechanisms
No support – Prop Tie back anchors
passive resistance
only (Coduto, 2001) 21
Cantilever retaining walls: failure mechanisms
(geotechnical)
Forward rotation
Failure at toe
Piping and erosion
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Cantilever retaining walls: failure mechanisms
(structural)
Wall failure
Anchor failure
Prop failure
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Cantilever retaining wall types
Sheet piling
Contiguous piles
Secant piles
Diaphragm wall
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(courtesy of Mr J. Crawley, Skanska-Cementation)
Interlocking steel sections
Sheet piling Water tight
Can be driven into most soil types
(Evans, Piling, 2008)
Typical section of sheet piling
(Deep excavation, 2008)
Permanent Ground Anchors at Thames Barrier park, London
Docklands
River wall reconstruction - 112 m length of sheet pile wall
with anchors
([Link]
details/[Link]?ContentID=2&HSESSID
East Side construction overview of site with slab =fec54818ac6db173578c094a066f98f)6
reinforcement, sheet pile walls and crane,
London
(courtesy of Dr O’Sullivan) 25
Contiguous piles
● Typically constructed in dry / stable soils
● Series of non-overlapping piles often with gaps between
● Use bored piles – typically augered (e.g. CFA)
● May be a single or double row
● Not a watertight solution
HKU, MTR station, Haking Wong building Haywards Heath, Bolnore Village
(photos by Li Qiang) 200m contiguous anchored and cantilevered CFA bored
pile wall
600mm diameter CFA piles up to 14.5m deep
([Link]
details/[Link]?ContentID=4)
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Secant piles
● Temporary works (i.e. excavation support) – use combination of soft / firm
piles with reinforced concrete (hard) piles
● Permanent system - all piles are reinforced piles (hard/hard)
● Piles spacing: 0.8 to 0.9 pile diameters
● Primary piles are secanted or cut into by secondary piles
● Result - closed structure - barrier to water and prevents any soil movement
between the piles
Schematic diagram of primary (unreinforced)
and secondary (reinforced) piles
([Link]/engineering/geotech/pubs/gec8/[Link])
Photograph of guidewall used to guide pile drilling
Note different colours for primary and secondary piles
Note auger and reinforcement cage in image
([Link]/engineering/geotech/pubs/gec8/[Link])
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Secant piles
(courtesy of Dr O’Sullivan)
([Link]/main.h?s=techniques_services&sub=Walls&ID=6&sCov=1)
Deep circular shaft supported by secant piles (courtesy of Dr O’Sullivan)
Geocomposite membrane on wall to ensure
water tight conditions
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Diaphragm walls
● Used where there is a high groundwater level, or where the soils are unstable
soils.
● Concrete diaphragm walls provide effective groundwater control and soil
retention.
● Minimal vibration during construction – reducing risk of damage to adjacent
properties operation.
(courtesy of Alice Berry, Ove Arup London, 2008) Stratum Top of stratum
(mOD)
Made Ground +3.1 to +5.3
Alluvium 0
Terrace Gravel –2.0
Lambeth Clay –6.0
Lambeth Sand –11.0
Thanet Sand –16.0 south
Example in East London –17.5 north
15m deep basement
Chalk –30.0 south
600m diaphragm wall: 17.5m to 31m deep –31.5 north
Piled raft
Tunnels under site
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Diaphragm wall - construction
guidewalls excavation under bentonite
base cleaning
cage placement
concrete 30
Support
Canyeret (Lerida; Spain)
(courtesy of Prof. Vaunat)
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Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1821)
Theory of lateral forces on retaining walls
http//[Link]
Portrait by Hyppolite
Lecomte
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Coulomb, C-A (1821). Théorie des machines simples.
Today: still use Coulomb theory and some others.
No ready made equations: need to consider each earth
retaining system separately (case by case).
This course: treat different cases of retaining wall design,
hands on when practising engineers, will not use
computer software blindly.
Impossible to treat all cases. Some designs may differ
depending on the soil e.g. embedded walls in stiff clays.
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Retaining structures are normally constructed to
support vertical or near-vertical face of soil or rock.
The way in which they are placed:
● depends on the type of material it is to support;
● depends on the original and desired ground surface
profile;
● is of fundamental importance to the pressures applied
to the structure.
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DESIGN REQUIREMENTS FOR RETAINING WALLS
Overall stability
Restriction of ground movements
Integrity of wall structure i.e. soil structure should not fail
Possibility to restrict flow of water
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Example 1: unsupported cut
footpath
car park
old quarry
11m rock
required excavation profile to
construct a multi-storey building
no pressure applied by the unsupported cut.
the rock must yield outwards until it develops sufficient strength to support its
own weight.
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Example 2: reinforced concrete retaining wall
backfill with selected
granular fill
allow temporary
construct RC wall
space and working
space
typical practice to compact backfill.
this leads to higher horizontal pressures behind wall than would be in situ.
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Example 3: diaphragm wall
excavate trench
and fill with RC wall install ground anchors
as soil is excavated
from front of the wall
yielding of wall can be prevented by stressing anchors after installation.
but high pressures will develop behind the wall.
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Example 4: strutted excavation
drive H-section install planking between
steel piles H-piles and steel struts
as excavation proceeds.
small horizontal movement due to excavation inevitable before struts are
placed.
this is accompanied by a reduction in horizontal stress in soil.
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Wall movements will similarly have effect on pressures
between structure and soil.
Rigid wall
Retained sand
● No movement: coefficient of earth pressure at rest K0 = s'h/s'v
(see later)
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Wall movements will similarly have effect on pressures
between structure and soil.
Active
Retained sand
● Wall moves away from soil: coefficient of active earth pressure Ka = s'h/s'v
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Wall movements will similarly have effect on pressures
between structure and soil.
Passive
Retained sand
● Wall moves towards soil: coefficient of passive earth pressure Kp = s'h/s'v
When wall moves, it moves away from its rest condition and shear stresses are applied to
soil. Eventually shear stresses mobilize full strength of soil and soil fails.
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Design of earth retaining system
● Mapping of geometrical problem
● Determination of soil properties
● Choice of type of system
● Determination of forces
● Stability analysis
● Analysis of structural stability
● Specification on construction processes
● Design of programme of monitoring
Important aspects
● Drainage
● Use of anchors
● Wall support
● Global stability
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