Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2
Photos courtesy of Dr O’Sullivan
Designing a wall today is different from earlier times.
● Ground movement
(http://gees.usc.edu/GEES/RecentEQ/Taiwan/Report/Yuanlin/Yuanlin.html)
4
● Ground movement
5
● Water
by toppling
general failure
10
(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
11
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
12
Two main classes of gravity wall:
13
Mass gravity wall – failure mechanisms
sliding
bearing capacity
overall stability
(Atkinson, 2007) 14
L-shaped gravity wall
15
L-shaped gravity wall – failure mechanisms
rotational instability
structural failure of
elements of wall
(Coduto, 2001) 16
Example of mass gravity retaining wall: gabions
(Image Source:
http://www.hyd.gov.hk/contractwebsites/cr/progress%20photos/HY200506_photos/p
(Coduto, 2001) hoto0608.htm?item=4&projid=1)
18
L-shaped gravity retaining walls
(www.stokcrete.com/browse.aps?page=360)
Precast wall + cladding installation
19
(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.
20
Cantilever retaining walls: support mechanisms
Forward rotation
Failure at toe
22
Cantilever retaining walls: failure mechanisms
(structural)
Wall failure
Anchor failure
Prop failure
23
Cantilever retaining wall types
Sheet piling
Contiguous piles
Secant piles
Diaphragm wall
24
(courtesy of Mr J. Crawley, Skanska-Cementation)
Interlocking steel sections
Sheet piling Water tight
Can be driven into most soil types
HKU, MTR station, Haking Wong building Haywards Heath, Bolnore Village
(photos by Li Qiang) 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)
26
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
27
Secant piles
(courtesy of Dr O’Sullivan)
(www.bacsol.co.uk/main.h?s=techniques_services&sub=Walls&ID=6&sCov=1)
(courtesy of Alice Berry, Ove Arup London, 2008) Stratum Top of stratum
(mOD)
29
Diaphragm wall - construction
base cleaning
cage placement
concrete 30
Support
31
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1821)
Theory of lateral forces on retaining walls
http//en.wikipedia.org
Portrait by Hyppolite
Lecomte
32
Coulomb, C-A (1821). Théorie des machines simples.
Today: still use Coulomb theory and some others.
33
Retaining structures are normally constructed to
support vertical or near-vertical face of soil or rock.
34
DESIGN REQUIREMENTS FOR RETAINING WALLS
Overall stability
35
Example 1: unsupported cut
footpath
car park
old quarry
11m rock
allow temporary
construct RC wall
space and working
space
excavate trench
and fill with RC wall install ground anchors
as soil is excavated
from front of the wall
Rigid wall
Retained sand
(see later)
40
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
41
Wall movements will similarly have effect on pressures
between structure and soil.
Passive
Retained sand
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.
42
Design of earth retaining system
Important aspects
● Drainage
● Use of anchors
● Wall support
● Global stability
43