EARTH RETAINING SYSTEMS

Béatrice Baudet (b.baudet@ucl.ac.uk)

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

(http://gees.usc.edu/GEES/RecentEQ/Taiwan/Report/Yuanlin/Yuanlin.html)

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● Ground movement

(courtesy of Prof. Vaunat)

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● Water

(courtesy of Prof. Vaunat)

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● Water

Soil dragged by water

(courtesy of Prof. Vaunat)

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● Failure

by toppling

(courtesy of Prof. Vaunat)

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● 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:
http://www.hyd.gov.hk/contractwebsites/cr/progress%20photos/HY200506_photos/p
(Coduto, 2001) hoto0608.htm?item=4&projid=1)

Designed for tension – reinforcement

needed

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 L-shaped gravity retaining walls

(Chapman, 2000) Precast walls

(www.jconcrete.co.uk/l_t_shape_panels.htm)

(www.stokcrete.com/browse.aps?page=360)
Precast wall + cladding installation
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(www.hyd.gov.hk/contractwebsites/cr/progress%20photos/HY200506_photos/
photo0611.htm?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

East Side construction overview of site with slab
reinforcement, sheet pile walls and crane,
London
(courtesy of Dr O’Sullivan)
Docklands
River wall reconstruction - 112 m length of sheet pile wall
with anchors
(http://keller-ge.co.uk/engineering/case-studies/case-study-
details/CanaryWharfHQ2andHQ3DevelopmentsLondon.html?ContentID=2&HSESSID
=fec54818ac6db173578c094a066f98f)6
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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
(photos by Li Qiang)
Haywards Heath, Bolnore Village
200m contiguous anchored and cantilevered CFA bored
pile wall
600mm diameter CFA piles up to 14.5m deep
(http://keller-ge.co.uk/engineering/case-studies/case-study-
details/HaywardsHeathBolnoreVillage.html?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
(www.fhwa.dot.gov/engineering/geotech/pubs/gec8/03.cfm)

Photograph of guidewall used to guide pile drilling

Note different colours for primary and secondary piles
Note auger and reinforcement cage in image
(www.fhwa.dot.gov/engineering/geotech/pubs/gec8/03.cfm)

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 Secant piles

(courtesy of Dr O’Sullivan)

(www.bacsol.co.uk/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//en.wikipedia.org

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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