Earth Retaining Structure
CEN 5302
By Birhane G.
Chapter One
Introduction
Vertical or near vertical slopes of soil are supported by:
retaining walls, cantilever sheet-pile walls, sheet-pile
bulkheads, braced cuts, and other similar structures.
The proper design of those structures required estim
tion of lateral earth pressure, which is a function of
several factors, such as:
Type and amount of wall movement,
Shear strength parameters of the soil
Unit weight of the soil, and
Drainage conditions in the backfill.
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 used to provide
stability of earth or other material where conditions
disallow the mass to assume its natural slope.
The Various groups of retaining structure broadly fall into
three main groups
Gravity Walls
Embedded Walls
Reinforced and Anchored Walls
A. Based on the method of achieving stability Gravity
retaining wall are classified as:
• Gravity wall
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 Wall.
No Tensile Stress In Any Portion of The Wall
Economically Used For Walls Less Than 6m High
Semi gravity walls
The size of the section of gravity wall
may be reduced if a small amount of
reinforcement is provided near the
back face such walls are known as
semi gravity walls.
• Cantilever Retaining wall
o Made of reinforced concrete material
o Inverted T-shaped in section with
each projecting acts as a cantilever
o Economically used for walls greater
than 6 m high
Counterfort walls
Made of reinforced concrete materials Buttress walls
Consists of cantilever wall with Same as counterfort except
vertical brackets known as counter fort that the vertical brackets are on
placed behind face of wall
Ordinarily used for walls height greater the opposite side of the backfill
than 6.0m
Counterfort Retaining wall
B. Embedded Retaining Walls
Embedded retaining walls act like cantilever walls, extending deeper than
the excavation to take advantage of passive earth pressure of the ground
below to, at least partly, counteract the active earth pressure being exerted on
the wall above
Driven Sheet pile wall
Braced or Propped wall
Micro Pile wall
Diaghfram
C. Reinforced and Anchored Earth Retaining
Walls
Soil Nailing Ground Anchors and Soil Reinforcing
are the commonly method of Mechanically
Stabilized wall system.
Temporary Retaining Wall
• Construction projects often require temporary retaining walls to
complete the job in phases.
• Temporary MSE walls are an economical and fast solution for
fill situations.
• A temporary MSE wall with wire mesh facing can be left in
place or easily removed after use.
Many applications of TRW such as:
• Temporary roadway alignments or ramps for shifting
traffic patterns during construction phases.
• Roadway widening projects.
• Temporary surcharge for increasing the settlement rate of
roadway embankments or other areas.
• Bridge abutment phased construction for new bridges
or bridge replacement project.
• Foundations for cranes or other heavy equipment.
• Accommodating utilities behind a permanent wall.
Benefits of Temporary Retaining Walls
• Lightweight facing materials can be placed by hand
• Easy to deconstruct if it’s to be replaced by a
permanent structure
Classification of retaining wall as per it’s
Modes of failure
