PBW–N303

Foundations

Dr. Shehab Wissa

Soil Mechanics and Foundations

Faculty of Engineering
Cairo University
Fall 2018
 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
General

• Retaining walls are structures that are built for the purpose of supporting a
vertical or nearly vertical backfill which, in turn, may support vertical loads.
They may, also, be used to retain water or other materials.
• A retaining structure is typically located between two different ground
levels; upper level and lower level.
• Earth retaining structures are executed in-situ and are constructed at
various fields of engineering such as highways, bridges, canals, hydraulic
structures.
• A backfill is the material behind the earth retaining structure at the upper
elevation which exerts lateral earth pressure on the wall/ retaining
structure.

Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 183

 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
Types of Earth Retaining Structures
Gravity Type
Counterfort Type

Cantilever Type

Semi‐Gravity Retaining Wall         Reinforced Concrete    
Cantilever Retaining Wall
Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 184
 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
DESIGN PROCEDURE OF RETAINING WALLS
Design of retaining walls, generally, follows the following steps:
1. Analyzing the subsoil condition,
2. Establishment of surcharge loads, railways, highways … etc,
3. Select the type and tentative proportion of the retaining wall,
4. Compute earth pressure and other lateral pressures. Calculate lateral forces,
5. Compute vertical forces,
6. Check the stability of the wall
i) Sliding stability, ii) Overturning stability, iii) Check of bearing capacity and stresses on soil,
7. Design of structural elements,
8. Select drainage system in the wall or backfill (if any),
9. Predict settlement and movement of wall, and
10. Eventually, draw concrete and reinforcement detailing.

Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 185

 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
PROPORTIONING OF GRAVITY-TYPE RETAINING WALLS
- Gravity-type retaining walls are generally trapezoidal or with broken back to
reduce the quantity of concrete.
- The base and other dimensions are to be chosen such that the resultant force
falls within the middle one third of the base.
- Because of the massive proportions of the wall, the resulting stresses in
concrete are small, and, consequently, low strength concrete may generally
be used for the wall construction.
- Critical sections will occur along the stem and/or through the toe.

MATERIALS OF GRAVITY-TYPE RETAINING WALLS

- Masonry
- Bricks
- Plain concrete

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
PROPORTIONING OF GRAVITY-TYPE RETAINING WALLS

Empirical dimensions of gravity-type

retaining walls
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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
ACTING FORCES ON GRAVITY-TYPE RETAINING WALLS
- Active earth pressure Ea (Rankine).

- Own weight of wall (Wc).

- Weight of soil (Ws).

- Water pressure (Ew).

- Uplift Forces (U).

- Passive earth pressure (Ep)

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
OVERALL STABILITY OF GRAVITY-TYPE WALLS

The following steps are to be followed to assess the stability of Gravity type retaining wall.
a) Compute and locate all forces and weights acting on the wall,
b) Check stability of the wall to satisfy the sliding condition:

F.S. = Resisting Forces/ Sliding Forces (1)

F.S. = should be ≥ 1.5 if passive forces are neglected,

and ≥ 2.0 if passive forces are considered

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
OVERALL STABILITY OF GRAVITY-TYPE WALLS

Sliding underneath the base should be considered in the resisting forces.

In cohesionless soil: F = ΣW’s tan δ (2)
Where δ = ⅔ φ (3)
In cohesive soil: Fc = cw * B (4)
cw = ⅔ c (5)
Where: δ : angle of wall friction
cw: adhesion between soil and wall

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
OVERALL STABILITY OF GRAVITY-TYPE WALLS

c) Check the overturning stability of the wall by taking the moment of the overturning
and the stability forces about the toe of the wall.
F.S. = Resisting Moment / Overturning Moment = Mr / Mo (6)
Where Mr: resisting moment about point “o”.
Mo: overturning moment about point “o”.

F.S = should ≥ 1.5 in case of cohesionless soil.

≥ 2.0 in case of cohesive soil.

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
OVERALL STABILITY OF GRAVITY-TYPE WALLS
Resisting Moment = Mr = Wi xi Ea vl xE – U xU + Ep yp
Overturning Moment = MOT = Ea hz yE + Ew1 yw1 – Ew2 yw2

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
OVERALL STABILITY OF GRAVITY-TYPE WALLS
d) Check of Soil Pressure Under the wall base.

Where ∑ W = N

And ∑ Mo = M

And the corresponding eccentricity (e) = M / N

Accordingly, 𝑓 , 1

𝑓 should not exceed qall

And 𝑓 should not be negative.
If ƒ2 is negative, this means that the resultant lies outside the middle third.
In this case the pressure on the soil is to be redistributed as following:
2𝑁
𝑓 𝑞
3𝑒
and e > B/6

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
CHECK OF STRESSES AT CRITICAL SECTIONS OF GRAVITY WALLS
Selected sections are chosen as shown. Normal and shear forces are computed
at each section. Then, compressive, tensile and shear stresses are calculated at
the critical section and compared with the allowable values for plain concrete.
If are not safe, bigger dimensions of the wall are to be used.

Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 194

 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
GRAVITY-TYPE WALLS
Problem: Check the overall and structural stability of the retaining wall shown.

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
GRAVITY-TYPE WALLS
Problem: Check the overall and structural stability of the retaining wall shown.

Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 196

 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
GRAVITY-TYPE WALLS
Problem: Check the overall and structural stability of the retaining wall shown.

Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 197

 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
GRAVITY-TYPE WALLS
Problem: Check the overall and structural stability of the retaining wall shown.

Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 198

 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
GRAVITY-TYPE WALLS
Problem: Check the overall and structural stability of the retaining wall shown.

Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 199

 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
GRAVITY-TYPE WALLS
Problem: Check the overall and structural stability of the retaining wall shown.

Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 200

 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
GRAVITY-TYPE WALLS
Problem: Check the overall and structural stability of the retaining wall shown.

Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 201

 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
GRAVITY-TYPE WALLS
Problem: Check the overall and structural stability of the retaining wall shown.

Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 202

 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
GRAVITY-TYPE WALLS
Problem: Check the overall and structural stability of the retaining wall shown.

Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 203

 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
PROPORTIONING OF CANTILEVER-TYPE RETAINING WALLS

Empirical dimensions of cantilever-type

retaining walls
Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 204
 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
OVERALL STABILITY OF CANTILEVER-TYPE WALLS
Same principles & procedures are followed in the stability analysis of cantilever retaining
wall. It follows the following steps:

a) Calculate weights, forces, and pressures

acting on the retaining wall as presented below:

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
OVERALL STABILITY OF CANTILEVER-TYPE WALLS

b) Sliding, Overturning and Stresses on soil are to be calculated and checked as

previously shown for gravity-type walls.

- Check of sliding if unsafe ---------- increase heel or use key to develop passive
pressure to increase sliding stability.

- Check of overturning if unsafe ------ increase heel

- Check of stresses if unsafe ----------- increase toe

Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 206

 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
DESIGN OF CRITICAL SECTIONS OF CANTILEVER WALLS
Following the stability analysis of the retaining wall, the bearing pressure distribution is
also, plotted. Then, the sections shown in the figure below are designed as reinforced
concrete sections.

1.Calculate the straining actions acting on each section as a result of the acting stresses &
forces as shown below.

2.Design each section for concrete dimensions and required reinforcement as shown
below.

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
DESIGN OF CRITICAL SECTIONS OF CANTILEVER WALLS
3.Draw a neat sketch for detailing the concrete & reinforcement.

Foundations– Dr. Shehab Wissa – Fall 2018 208

 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
CANTILEVER-TYPE WALLS
Problem: Make a complete design for the cantilever retaining wall shown. The
minimum factor of safety against sliding is required to be greater than or equal to 1.8.

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
CANTILEVER-TYPE WALLS
Problem:

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
CANTILEVER-TYPE WALLS
Problem:

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
CANTILEVER-TYPE WALLS
Problem:

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
CANTILEVER-TYPE WALLS
Problem:

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
CANTILEVER-TYPE WALLS
Problem:

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
CANTILEVER-TYPE WALLS
Problem:

1.5

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
CANTILEVER-TYPE WALLS
Problem:

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 EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES 
CANTILEVER-TYPE WALLS
Problem:

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