5.

1 Retaining Wall Design

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Conventional Retaining Walls
2

 Gravity Retaining Structures

• Stability depends on the self weight of the wall
• Not economical for design
 Semi-gravity Retaining Structures
• Minimum amount of reinforcement may be used in the wall to
reduce the size of wall
 Cantilever Retaining Walls
• Reinforced concrete is used in wall design with thin stem and slab
base
• Relatively economical for design

09/19/2023
Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK
 Conventional Retaining Walls
3

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Conventional Retaining Walls
4

 Counterfort/Buttressed Retaining walls

• Similar to Cantilever retaining walls, but thin slab stems may be
used at some interval to tie the base slab and stem in order to
reduce the shear force and bending moment for more economical
design

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Retaining Wall Design:
5
Proportioning

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Retaining Wall Design:
6
Proportioning

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Earth Pressure on Retaining Wall
7

Earth pressure may be calculated at the vertical section going through

the heel of wall. This is under the constraint that Heel is proportioned
in such a way that line AC makes an angle less than or equal to η with
vertical.

 
  45   sin 1 sin 
2 2  
sin  

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Earth Pressure on Retaining Wall
8

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Earth Pressure on Retaining Wall
9

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Equivalent Fluid Method
10

 Along line AB

1 2
P  2 K H
h
1
h 2 The units of Kh and Kv are
P  2 K H the same as (Ph/H2)
v v

Terzaghi and Peck have produced semi-empirical charts for Kh

and Kv for different types of soils as listed in the table below

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Equivalent Fluid Method
11

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

12 Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023
 Retaining walls with backfill slope
13
of finite distance

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Earth Pressure on Retaining walls
with backfill slope of finite distance
14

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Earth Pressure on Retaining walls
15
with backfill slope of finite distance

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Stability of retaining wall
16

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Stability of retaining wall
17

 Deep seated shear failure may

occur if there is a weak soil layer
below the foundation within a
depth of about 1.5 times width of
foundation.

 The failure surface may be

assumed to have cylindrical shape
and critical failure surface for
sliding may be determined
through analysis.

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Stability of retaining wall
18

 For back fill with its slope less

than 10º, the critical sliding
surface may be assumed to pass
through heel of the retaining wall.

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Check Against OVERTURNNG
19

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Check Against OVERTURNNG
20

 The wall must be safe against overturning about the toe

 MR Resisting Moment
FOS   M
O Overturning Moment
Pav . B   Wi xi FOS = 1.5, if wind/seismic
FOS  P . y  P . y  2
ah a p p forces are considered
 Location of Resultant force from toe can determined as
 Pav   Wi . x   M R  M O x 
 M R  M O
Pav   Wi

In the design of cantilever retaining wall it is preferred that the

stem center is right above the location of resultant force at the
base (resultant of soil reaction).

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Check against SLIDING
21

 FR  In most cases passive

FOS  1.75
 FS earth pressure is
FR  R . tan  b  cb B  PP ignored while
FS = Pah calculating FOS
against sliding
 FOS = 1.5, if
wind/seismic  Base friction and
forces are considered adhesion may be
taken by the
following

 
assumption
  1 to 2 . 

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK

c
b
b

09/19/2023
  
2 3
1 to 2 . c 
2 3 2
2
 Alternatives for Improving FOS
22
against Sliding

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Check for BEARING CAPACITY
23
failure
2 2
R   Pav   Wi   Pah  PP 

 M R  M O
CE  x  Pav   Wi
B
Eccentricity: e  2  x
 Pav   Wi 
q max 
Q
B  
1 6
B
e 
B  
1 6 e
B
 Pav   Wi  6 e
q min 
Q
B 
1 6
B
e 
B  
1
B
For e > B/6, qmin becomes negative,
i.e. tensile force. This is not desirable
and re-proportioning is required
Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023
 Check for BEARING CAPACITY
24
failure
 Bearing capacity of soil can be calculated using general bearing
capacity equation.
qu  c . N c . s c . d c . ic  q . N q . s q . d q . i q  0.5  ' B . N  . s . d  . i
 Following consideration have to made during the analysis
• The eccentricity of load on the foundation can be incorporated
using effective area method. The bearing capacity is calculated
assuming the width of foundation as B’ B′ = B − 2e
• Inclination of resultant force has to taken into account
Pah  P p
tan   P   W
av i
 Factor of safety against bearing capacity:
qu
FOS  q
2 for granular soil
av 3 for cohesive soils
Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023
 Wall Joints
25

 Construction Joints: Vertical or horizontal joints are placed between

two successive pour of concrete. To increase shear resistance at the
joints, keys may used as shown in the figure below.

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Wall Joints
26

 Contraction Joint: These are vertical joints placed in the wall (from
top of base slab to the top of wall) that allow the concrete to shrink
without noticeable harm. The groove may be 6-8 mm wide, 12-16
mm deep 8-12 deep, and they are placed at 8 m spacing.

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Wall Joints
27

 Expansion Joint: These vertical joints are provided in large retaining

walls to allow for the expansion of concrete due to temperature
changes and they are usually extended from top to bottom of the
wall. These joints may be filled with flexible joint fillers. Horizontal
reinforcing steel bars running across the stem are continuous through
all joints. However, the current thinking is that the large resistance to
expansion/contraction on the back face of wall from lateral pressure
+ the friction resistance of the base, these joints are practically
useless.

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Wall Drainage
28

 Accumulation of rain water in the back fill results in its saturation,

and thus a considerable increase in the earth pressure acting on the
wall. This may eventually lead to unstable conditions. Two of the
options to take care of this problem are the following:
• Provision of weep holes w/o geo-textile on the back-face of wall
• Perforated pipe draining system with filter

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Wall Drainage
29

 Weep Holes: They should have a minimum diameter of 10 cm and

be adequately spaced depending on the backfill material. Geo-textile
material or a thin layer of some other filter may be used on the back
face of wall for the full height in order to avoid the back fill material
entering the weep holes and eventually clogging them.

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Wall Drainage
30

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Wall Drainage
31

 Perforated Pipes: These are provided horizontally along the back face
of wall at the bottom of stem. The filter material around the
perforated pipe should satisfy the following requirements.
• The soil to be protected should not wash into the filter
D15( Filter
D85( Backfill)  5
• Excessive hydraulic pressure head is not created in the soil due to
low permeability.
D15( Filter
4
D15( Backfill)

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023

 Wall Settlements
32

 Settlement of soil below the wall

• Immediate settlement in granular soil.
• Consolidation settlement in cohesive soil.
 Differential settlement
• Heel settlement is larger when there is substantial increase in
backfill
• Toe settlements are produced by lateral earth pressure. To minimize
toe settlements, ground may be strengthened using sand piles, rock
columns, grouting, or structural piles.
• Differential settlements along the length of wall may produce
cracks in the wall. This can be watched during construction itself
and preemptive action may be taken such as ensuring proper
compaction of the ground.
Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023
Design of Cantilever Retaining Wall
33

Retaining Walls – Mr. Jjuuko Samuel, MUK 09/19/2023