Foundation Engineering-I
CHAPTER FOUR
Analysis and Proportioning of
Retaining walls
JIMMA UNIVERSITY
BY: HASHIM.W
Analysis and Proportioning of
Retaining walls
Retaining walls are structures used to provide stability of earth or other
material where conditions disallow the mass to assume its natural slope.
Common Types of retaining walls
1. Gravity walls:-
made of plain concrete or stone masonry
depends upon its weight for stability
Trapezoidal in section with the base projecting beyond the face and
back of the wall.
no tensile stress in any portion of the wall
economically used for walls less than 6m high
Cont.….
2. Cantilever walls
made of reinforced concrete material
inverted T-shaped in section with each projecting acts as a
cantilever
economically used for walls greater than 6 to 7.5m high
Cont. …..
3. Counterfort walls
made of reinforced concrete materials
consists of cantilever wall with vertical brackets
known as counterfort placed behind face of wall
ordinarily used for walls height greater than 6.0m
Cont. ..
Common Proportions of Retaining
walls
The usual practice in the design of retaining walls is to assign tentative dimensions and
then check for the overall stability of the structure.
In figures shown below the common proportions based on experience are indicated for the
three types of retaining walls.
iii) Counterfort wall
Forces on Retaining Walls
The forces that should be considered in the design of retaining walls include
i) Active and passive earth pressures
ii) Dead weight including the weight of the wall and portion of soil mass
that is considered to act on the retaining structure
iii) Surcharge including live loads, if any
iv) Water pressure, if any
v) Contact pressure under the base of the structure
Stability of Retaining Walls
3. Foundation stability
4. Deep foundation failure ( Overall stability)
If layer of weak soil is located within a depth of about 1 ½ times the height of the retaining
wall the overall stability of retaining wall should be investigated. E.g. using Swedish circle
method
Example-1
1. design a gravity retaining wall to sustain soil for a height of 5m. The
proportioned section and the given soil data are illustrated in figure below.
Example-2
The proportioned section of Gravity
Retaining wall is shown in Figure below.
For the given condition [take unit weight
of the stone as 24kN/m3 δ=0 β=90 and
α=0
a) Calculate all the vertical and
horizontal forces
b) check stability for sliding and
overturning
c) check stability for bearing capacity
d) what is the effect of increasing
horizontal force on stability of
retaining wall?
THE END
THANK YOU !!
12/16/2024 15
