Structure/ Object : Retaining Wall

i.

Introduction

A retaining wall is a structure that holds or retains soil behind it. There are many types of
materials that can be used to create retaining walls like concrete blocks, poured concrete,
treated timbers, rocks or boulders. Some are easy to use, others have a shorter life span, but
all can retain soil. 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.

Figure 1: Basic structure of Retaining Wall

Every retaining wall supports a wedge of soil. The wedge is defined as the soil which
extends beyond the failure plane of the soil type present at the wall site, and can be calculated
once the soil friction angle is known. As the setback of the wall increases, the size of the
sliding wedge is reduced. This reduction lowers the pressure on the retaining wall.
The most important consideration in proper design and installation of retaining walls is to
recognize and counteract the tendency of the retained material to move downslope due to
gravity. This creates lateral earth pressure behind the wall which depends on the angle of
internal friction (phi) and the cohesive strength (c) of the retained material, as well as the
direction and magnitude of movement the retaining structure undergoes.
ii.

Description of Retaining Wall

Lateral earth pressures are zero at the top of the wall and - in homogenous ground - increase
proportionally to a maximum value at the lowest depth. Earth pressures will push the wall
forward or overturn it if not properly addressed. Also, any groundwater behind the wall that is
not dissipated by a drainage system causes hydrostatic pressure on the wall. The total
pressure or thrust may be assumed to act at one-third from the lowest depth for lengthwise
stretches of uniform height.
Unless the wall is designed to retain water, It is important to have proper drainage behind the
wall in order to limit the pressure to the wall's design value. Drainage materials will reduce or
eliminate the hydrostatic pressure and improve the stability of the material behind the wall.
Drystone retaining walls are normally self-draining.
As an example, the International Building Code requires retaining walls to be designed to
ensure stability against overturning, sliding, excessive foundation pressure and water uplift;
and that they be designed for a safety factor of 1.5 against lateral sliding and overturning.
There are 3 types of retaining walls:

Gravity wall
These are usually constructed of mass concrete, with reinforcement included in the
faces to restrict thermal and shrinkage cracking.

Figure 2: Gravity Wall

Counterfort Wall
This type of construction will probably be used where the overall height of the wall is
too large to be constructed economically either in mass concrete or as a cantilever

Figure 3: Counterfort Wall

Cantilever
These are designed as vertical cantilevers spanning from a large rigid base which
often relies on the weight of backfill on the base to provide stability.

Figure 4: Cantilever walls

iii.

Applied load acting on Retaining Wall

Figure 5: Load/ pressure acting on Retaining Wall

Magnitude of stress or earth pressure acting or load on a retaining wall depends on:

height of wall,

unit weight of retained soil,

pore water pressure,

strength of soil (angle of internal friction),

amount and direction of wall movement, and

other stresses such as earthquakes and surcharges.

Lateral earth pressures are analyzed for either "Active," "Passive" or "At-Rest" conditions.
Active conditions exist when the retaining wall moves away from the soil it retains.
Passive conditions exist when the retaining wall moves toward the soil it retains.
At-Rest conditions exist when the wall is not moving away or toward the soil it retains.
Conditions for active, passive and at-rest pressures are usually determined by the structural
engineer. Basically, at-rest pressures exist when the top of the wall is fixed from movement.
Active and passive pressures are assumed when the top of the wall moves at least 1/10 of 1%
of height of wall in the direction away from , and toward the soil it retains, respectively.
Some theorize that at-rest pressures develop over time, when a retaining wall is constructed
for the active case.
Lateral earth pressures are typically analyzed, as presented below, from one of the following
methods:

Rankine Analysis

Coulomb Method

Log Spiral Theory

After determining lateral earth pressures, retaining wall analysis and design also includes:

Sliding

Overturning

Bearing capacity and settlement

Structural design of wall

iv.

Support Reaction of Retaining Wall

If a support prevents translation of a body in a given direction, a force is developed on the

body in that direction. The loads on the retaining wall can be point load, distributed loads or
varying loads. There can also be point moments on the kind of support used. For this
retaining wall, the support is only fixed.

Figure 6: Support Reaction of Retaining Wall

v.

Centre or Centroid of Retaining Wall

Centroid means the geometric centre of the objects shape. The centroid position can also
represent the point the point of equilibrium of an object or structure. We have to know the
centroid of the beam to prevent the retaining wall structure to fail or crack from the
distributed weight that it has to bear.

Some objects or retaining wall may be formed from several simple area such as rectangular,
triangles and others. In this case the centroid of the compose area may be found by taking the
sum of the produce of each simple area and the distance its centroid is from the axis, divided
by the sum of the areas. We can calculate the centroid of the object/structure by the following
formula:

Table 1 : Centroid or Area of an object

The retaining wall structure with specific dimension:

Figure 7: Retaining Wall Structure with specific dimention

Calculation of Centroid of Retaining Wall:

PART

AREA

Ax

Ay

(m2)

(m)

(m)

(m3)

(m3)

3.5 x 12.3

12.3/2

3.5/2

43.05 x 6.15

43.05 x 1.75

= 43.05

= 6.15

= 1.75

= 264.75

= 75.34

2.8 x 8.8

1.4 + 3.7

4.4 + 3.5

24.64 x 5.1

24.64 x 7.9

= 24.64

= 5.1

= 7.9

= 125.66

= 194.66

x 2.1 x 8.8

b/3 + 6.5

h/3 + 3.5

9.24 x 7.2

9.24 x 6.43

= 9.24

= 2.1/3 + 6.5

= 8.8/3 + 3.5

= 66.53

= 59.41

= 7.2

= 6.43
456.94

329.41

76.93

Ax
A

Ay
A

456.94
76.93

329.41
76.93

= 5.94

= 4.28

vi.

Moment of Inertia of Retaining Wall

The moment of inertia of an object about a given axis describes how difficult it is to change
in angular motion about that axis. Therefore, it encompasses not just how much mass the
object has overall, but how far each bit of mass is from the axis. The farther out the objects
mass is, the more rotational inertia of object has, and the more force is required to change its
rotation rate. A second quality which is of importance when considering retaining wall
stresses is the moment of inertia. The moment of the object/ structure can determine by the
following formula:

Table 2:

Shows the

equation of

Moment of

Inertia for
Centroid of

the structure

Calculation

of Moment of

Inertia of

Retaining Wall:

AREA
PART

(m2)

bh3
12

Ad2

(m)

(m4)

12.3(3.53) / 12

4.28 1.75

43.05 x 2.532

= 43.95

= 2.53

= 275.56

Ix =

(m4)
1

43.05

34.64

9.24

2.8(8.83) / 12

7.9 4.28

34.64 x 3.622

= 159.01

= 3.62

= 322.89

2.1(8.83) / 36

6.43 4.2

9.24 x 2.152

= 39.75

= 2.15

= 42.71

As2 (10-3)

(mm)

(m4)

12.33(3.5) / 12

6.15 5.94

43.05 x 0.212

= 542.75

= 0.21

= 1.90

2.83(8.8) / 12

5.94 5.1

24.64 x 0.842

= 16.10

= 0.84

= 17.39

ixx = [ix + Ad2]1 + [ix + Ad2]2 + [ix + Ad2]3

= [43.95 + 275.56 + 159.01 + 322.89 + 39.75 + 42.71]
= 883. 87 m4

PART

AREA
(m2)

Iy=

b3 h
12
(10-3)
(m4)

43.05

24.64

9.24

2.13 (8.8) / 12

7.2 5.94

9.24 x 1.262

= 6.79

= 1.26

= 14.67

iyy = [iy + As2]1 + [iy + As2]2 + [iy + As2]3

=[542.75 + 1.90 + 16.10 + 17.39 + 6.79 + 14.67]
= 599.60 m4

vii.

References:

a. Rahman, N.A, Ismail, N, Hilton Ahmad, M ((2013). Static And Dynamic Module.
Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UTHM Publisher
b. Mosley, B, Bungey, J, Hulse, R (2001). Reinforced Concrete Design to Eurocode 2.
Seventh Edition, Macmillan Education Ltd Publication
c. http://www.assakkaf.com/courses/ence454/lectures/handouta.pdf
d. http://www.geotechnicalinfo.com/retaining_walls_technical_guidance.html