Foundation Engineering-I

Analysis and Design of Retaining Structures

CHAPTER FOUR
ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF RETAINING STRUCTURES
Structures that are built to retain vertical or nearly vertical earth banks or any other material are
called retaining structures. Here two categories of retaining structures are presented.
4.1 RETAINING WALLS
The principal types of retaining walls are given below.
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.
2) Cantilever walls
Made of reinforced concrete.
Inverted T-shaped in section.
Economical up to a height of 8m.
3) Counterfort walls
Made of reinforced concrete.
Is a cantilever wall with vertical brackets known as counterforts placed behind face of wall.
Economical for height greater than 6 - 8m.
4) Buttress walls
Same as counterfort except that the vertical brackets are on the opposite side of the
backfill.

Figure 4.1:- Types of Retaining walls (a) Gravity (b) Cantilever (c) Counterfort
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Analysis and Design of Retaining Structures

4.2 Common Proportions of Retaining walls

The usual practice in the design of retaining walls is to assign tentative dimensions and then
check the stability of the structure. Figure 4.2 below shows the common preliminary proportions
based on experience.

(a) Gravity Retaining wall

(b) Cantilever Retaining wall

(c) Counterfort Retaining wall

Figure 4.2:- Common preliminary proportions of Retaining walls

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Analysis and Design of Retaining Structures

4.3 Forces on Retaining Walls

The forces that should be considered in the design of retaining walls include
1) Active and passive earth pressures.
2) Self-weight of the wall and portion of the soil that is acting on the retaining structure.
3) Surcharge including live loads, if any
4) Water pressure, if any
5) Contact pressure under the base of the structure.
Earth Pressures
The common earth pressure theories that are used to calculate the earth pressures on retaining
walls are those of Rankine and Coulomb.
In the case of cantilever walls, the use of the Rankine earth pressure theory for stability checks
involves drawing a vertical line AB through point A, located at the edge of the heel of the base
slab as shown in figure 4.3a. The Rankine active condition is assumed to exist along the vertical
plane AB. In the analysis of the walls stability, the active force, Pa, the weight of soil above the
heel, Ws, and the weight of the concrete, Wc all should be taken into consideration.
The assumption for the development of Rankines active pressure is theoretically correct if the
shear zone (outer failure plane) bounded by the line AC is not obstructed by the stem of the wall.
The angle, , that the line AC makes with the vertical is given by;
sin
' 1
'
when = 0, = 45o = 45o - + sin 1
2 2 2
2
sin '
A similar type of analysis may be used for gravity walls, as shown in Figure 4.3b.
Therefore, the assumptions to use Rankines theory are;
The back of Wall (fill or active side) should be smooth & vertical.
If the back of the wall is inclined, it should not obstruct the outer failure plane (line AC).

Figure 4.3:- Rankines assumptions to determine earth pressure on Retaining walls

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Analysis and Design of Retaining Structures

Coulomb's earth pressure theory can be used under all other conditions where the surface of the
wall is not smooth and where the soil slides along the surface. If Coulomb's earth pressure theory
is used the weight of soil above the heel, Ws, should not be included in the analysis.
In general the following recommendations may be made for the application of the Rankines or
Coulombs theory without the introduction of significant errors:
Use the Rankines theory for cantilever and counterfort retaining walls.
Use the Coulombs theory for gravity retaining walls.
Figure 4.4 shows the forces acting on a cantilever and a gravity retaining wall, based on the
assumption that the Rankine active pressure is acting along a vertical plane AB drawn through
the heel of the structure.

Figure 4.4:- Forces acting on Retaining walls

The active and passive earth pressures using Rankines earth pressure theory are;
1 '
Pa = 1 K a H '2
2
where K a = cos

Pv = Pa sin

cos cos 2 cos 2 '1

cos + cos cos '1
2

1 '
'
Pp = 2 K p D 2 + 2c2 D K p
2

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Ph = Pa cos

'

if = 0, K a = tan 2 45 1
2

'

K p = tan 2 45 + 2
2

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Analysis and Design of Retaining Structures

4.4 Stability of Retaining Walls

A retaining wall may fail in any of the following ways:
It may overturn about its toe.
It may slide along its base.
It may fail due to the loss of bearing capacity of the soil supporting the base.
It may undergo deep-seated shear failure.
It may go through excessive settlement.
Therefore retaining walls should be designed to provide adequate stability against overturning,
sliding, foundation bearing failure and deep foundation failure.
1) Overturning Stability

M R
M o
MR = sum of the moments of forces tending to resist overturning about the toe (point C)
Mo = sum of the moments of forces tending to overturn the wall about the toe (point C)
FSOT =

To calculate the sum of the resisting moments, MR, (neglecting Pp), a table such as the one
shown below can be prepared. The weight of the soil above the heel and the weight of the
concrete (or masonry) are both forces that contribute to the resisting moment. Note that the force
Pv also contributes to the resisting moment.

The sum of the overturning moments, Mo, is;

H'
M o = Ph
3
The factor of safety against overturning is 2.
Note that, if the line of action of the resultant force on wall acts within the middle third width of
the base, the wall is safe against overturning.
If the factor of safety against overturning is < 2, increase the weight of the structure by
extending the base slab to the right and repeat the calculation until the stability
requirement is achieved.

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Analysis and Design of Retaining Structures

2) Sliding stability
FS Slide =

FR
Fd

FR = sum of horizontal resisting forces.

Fd = sum of horizontal driving forces.
The resisting force is a function of the shear strength of the soil. The shear strength of the soil
immediately below the base slab can be represented as;
= ' tan '+c a'
' = angle of friction between the soil and the base slab, ' = k12'
c'a = adhesion between the soil and the base slab, ca' = k 2 c2'
In most cases k1 and k2 are in the range from to 2/3.
Thus, the maximum resisting force that can be derived from the soil per unit length of the wall
along the bottom of the base slab is;
R' = * (area) = * ( B 1) = B ' tan '+ Bca'
Since B ' = sum of vertical forces = V
R' = V tan '+ Bca'
Therefore, FR = V tan '+ Bca'

Note that, if the passive force is included in the analysis, FR = V tan '+ Bca' + Pp
The only horizontal force that will tend to cause the wall to slide (driving force) is the horizontal
component of the active force or;
Fd = Pa cos
The factor of safety against sliding is 1.5. Note that, if the passive soil is considered in the
analysis the factor of safety against sliding should be 2.
If factor of safety against sliding is < 1.5, provide a shear key under the
base slab to satisfy the sliding stability requirement.
3) Foundation Bearing Capacity Failure
The vertical pressure transmitted to the soil by the base slab of the retaining wall should be
checked against the ultimate bearing capacity of the soil. The nature of variation of the vertical
pressure transmitted by the base slab into the soil is shown in figure 4.5.
Note that qtoe and qheel are the maximum and the minimum pressures occurring at the ends of the
toe and heel sections, respectively. The magnitudes of qtoe and qheel can be determined in the
following manner. The resultant of all forces, R, is R = V + Ph, let the moment of all forces
about the toe (point C) is Mnet and it is given by;
M net = M R M o
Let the line of action of the resultant, R, intersect the base slab at point E. Then the distance
between the toe and the line of action of the resultant, CE, is;
M
CE = X = net
V
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Analysis and Design of Retaining Structures

Figure 4.5:- Check for bearing capacity failure.

Hence, the eccentricity of the resultant R may be expressed as;
B
e= X
2
Hence
V 6e
V 6e
qmax = qtoe =
1
1 + and qmin = qheel =
B
B
B
B
Note that, the eccentricity e should be less than or equal to B/6 (e B/6). If the eccentricity
becomes greater than B/6 (e > B/6), there will be some tensile stress at the end of the heel section
(qmin = qheel = negative) and this is not desirable and therefore the retaining wall should be
reproportioned and calculations redone.
The factor of safety against bearing capacity failure is given by;
q
FS BC = ult
qmax
qult = ultimate bearing capacity of the foundation soil.
The factor of safety against bearing capacity failure is 3.
4) Deep Foundation Failure (Global stability)
If layer of weak soil is located within a depth of about 1.5 times the height of the retaining wall
the overall stability of retaining wall should be investigated. E.g. using Swedish circle method.

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Analysis and Design of Retaining Structures

4.5 STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF RETAINING WALLS

Structural design of retaining walls involves designing the individual components of the wall
(stem, toe and heel) for shear and flexure. Forces to be considered in the design of retaining wall
components are shown in the figure below.

Figure 4.6:- Forces for retaining wall design.

Stem design
The stem is considered to be a vertical cantilever slab, supporting the horizontal earth pressure.
The critical section is at the bottom of the wall for both shear and flexure. The thickness
(effective depth) of the stem at its bottom should be checked for wide-beam shear and then
reinforcements calculated.
Heel design
The heel is considered to be a horizontal cantilever slab, supporting the weight of the back fill
(Ws), the self-weight of the heel (Wheel) and part of the upward soil pressure. The critical section
is at the intersection of the heel with the stem for both shear and flexure. The thickness (effective
depth) of the heel should be checked for wide-beam shear and then reinforcements calculated.
Toe design
The toe is considered to be a horizontal cantilever slab, supporting the self-weight of the toe
(Wtoe) and part of the upward soil pressure. The critical section is at the intersection of the toe
with the stem for both shear and flexure. The thickness (effective depth) of the toe should be
checked for wide-beam shear and then reinforcements calculated.
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Analysis and Design of Retaining Structures

Figure 4.7:- Design of retaining wall components.

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