Dire Dawa University, Institute of
Technology
Department of CE
Geotechnical Engineering Design –
II
Lecture notes
By: Mikiyas D.
(MSc in Geotechnical Engineering)
Email: kimiyas86@[Link]
Chapter Three -
Analysis and
Design of Earth
Retaining Systems
2
3
Retaining walls are structures used to provide
stability of earth or other material where
conditions disallow the mass to assume its
natural slope. Excavations for: basements,
roads, cuts, …
In general, retaining walls can be divided
into two major categories: (a) conventional
retaining walls and (b) mechanically
stabilized earth walls
4
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
5
2. Cantilever walls
made of reinforced concrete
inverted T-shaped in section
with each projecting acts as a
cantilever
economically used for walls
6 to 7.5m high
Fig. Cantilever walls
3. Counterfort walls
made of reinforced concrete
consists of cantilever wall
with vertical brackets known
as counterfort placed behind
face of wall
ordinarily used for walls
6
height greater than 6.0m Fig.
4. Buttress walls
same as counterfort except that the vertical
brackets are on the opposite side of the backfill
Vertical stem
7
8
9
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.
The common dimensions used for the various types
of retaining walls are given below.
10
iii) Counterfort
Wall
11
Forces on Retaining Walls
The forces that should be considered in the design
of retaining walls include
Active and passive earth pressures
Dead weight including the weight of the
wall and portion of soil mass that is
considered to act on the retaining
structure
Surcharge including live loads, if any
Water pressure, if any
Contact pressure under the base of the
structure
12
13
14
Consider a cantilever wall with a sloping backfill for
the purpose of analysis. The same principle holds for
the other types of walls.
Fig. below gives a cantilever wall with all the forces
acting on the wall and the base, where
Pa = active earth pressure acting at a height H/3
over the base on section AB
15
Figure Check for sliding
16
1. Sliding Stability (Check for Sliding )
The force that moves the wall =
horizontal force Ph
If the bottom of the base slab is rough, as in the case of
concrete poured directly on soil, the coefficient of friction is
equal to tanΦ, Φ being the angle of internal friction of the
soil.
The factor of safety against sliding is
Horizontal resisting force FR
Factor of safety =
Horizontal sliding force PAh
Factor of safety 1.5 for granular soils
Factor of safety 2.0 for cohesive soils 17
2. Overturning Stability (Check for Overturning)
The forces acting on the wall are shown in Fig. below.
The overturning and stabilizing moments may be
calculated by taking moments about point O.
The factor of safety against overturning is
therefore
Sum of moments to resist overturning M s
Factor of safety = Sum of overturning moments Mo
Factor of safety 1.5 for granular backfill
Factor of safety 2.0 for cohesive backfill
If the line of action of the resultant force on wall acts within the
middle third width of the base, wall is safe against overturning
18
We may write
19
3. Foundation Stability
Wt ( is the resultant of Ws
and Wc.
PR is the resultant of Pa
and Wt and PR meets the
base at m.
R is the resultant of all
the vertical forces acting at
m with an eccentricity e.
Fig. shows the pressure
distribution at the base with
a maximum qt at the toe
and a minimum qh at the
Stability against bearing capacity failure
heel. 20
An expression for e may be written as
Where e= eccentricity of R
qt qall , qall = qult/F.S
F. S = Factor of safety = 2 and 3 for
granular and cohesive soils, respectively
The above equation is valid for e< B/6. When e = B/6, q = 2q
t a
and qh = 0.
The base width B should be adjusted to satisfy equation.
When the subsoil below the base is of a low bearing capacity, the
possible alternative is to use a pile foundation.
21
4. Deep foundation failure (Base Failure of
Foundation )
If the base soil consists of medium to soft clay, a circular slip
surface failure may develop as shown in Fig. below .
The most dangerous slip circle is actually the one that penetrates
deepest into the soft material.
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
Stability against base slip surface shear failure 22
Example
3.1
belo
belo
w
w
23
Paa
24
25
26
The eccentricity e may be calculated.
The pressures at the toe and heel of the retaining wall may be written as
below
27
28
N ϕ = tan2 (45 + ϕ/2) 29
Example
3.2
belo
belo
w
w
30
31
32
33
34
EX. 3.3 Design a cantilever retaining wall for the condition shown below
Requirement
Stability analysis
Reading Assignment
46