Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting the soil mass
laterally so that the soil can be retained at different levels on the two sides.
Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would
not naturally keep to (typically a steep, near-vertical or vertical slope). Earth
retaining structures, such as retaining walls, bridge abutments, quay walls,
anchored bulk-heads, braced excavations, and mechanically stabilized
walls, are used throughout seismically active areas. They frequently
represent key elements of ports and harbors, transportation systems,
lifelines, and other constructed facilities.
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.
Gravity walls are thick and stiff enough that they do not bend;
Gravity walls are the earliest known retaining structures. They are
built from solid concrete or rock rubble mortared together; The lateral
forces from backfill are resisted by the weight of wall itself, and due to
their massive nature, they develop little or no tension. Therefore,
they are usually not reinforced with steel. Gravity walls are
economical for heights up to 3m (10 feet). their movement occurs
essentially by rigid-body translation and/or rotation. Certain types of
composite wall systems, such as crib walls and mechanically
stabilized walls, are thick enough that they bend very little and
consequently are often designed as gravity walls (with appropriate
consideration of internal stability).
Wood sheets;
Steel and plastic interlocking sheets;
Reinforced concrete sheets;
Precast concrete elements (crib walls and block walls);
Closely spaced in-situ soil-cement piles;
Wire-mesh boxes (gabbions); -Wire-mesh boxes (gabbions); and
Anchors into the soil or rock mass (soil nailing).
Cantilever walls are subject to the same failure mechanisms as gravity walls,
and also to flexural failure mechanisms. Soil pressures and bending
moments in cantilever walls depend on the geometry, stiffness, and strength
of the wall—soil system. If the bending moments required for equilibrium
exceed the flexural strength of the wall, flexural failure may occur. The
structural ductility of the wall itself may influence the level of deformation
produced by flexural failure.
Braced walls usually fail by gross instability, tilting, flexural failure, and/or
failure of bracing elements. Tilting of braced walls typically involves rotation
about the point at which the brace acts on the wall, often the top of the wall
as in the cases of basement and bridge abutment walls. Anchored walls with
inadequate penetration may tilt by "kicking out" at their toes. As in the case
of cantilever walls, anchored walls may fail in flexure, although the point of
failure (maximum bending moment) is likely to be different. Failure of bracing
elements can include anchor pullout, tierod failure, or bridge buckling.
Backfill settlements can also impose additional axial and transverse loading
on bracing elements such as tierods and tiebacks.