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The Fundamentals Of Retaining Wall

By Helen Russell


Retailing walls are the kind of walls that are constructed to restrain soils to non-natural slopes. The main reason for constructing a retaining wall is to use it to bind soils between different elevations. They are constructed in a number of areas. Some of the places are where the land-scape needs shaping and engineering severely for specific functions such as roadway overpasses or hillside farming. Another area where they are constructed are where the slope undesirable.

These walls come in many types. Common examples are gravity, cantilever, anchored, and piling walls. Their purpose is supporting a wedge of soil. The retained soil tends to shift downslope because of gravitational pull. As such, the design and construction must be done in a way as to counteract this tendency. Gravitational pull results in lateral earth pressure in the supported material. How much pressure is generated varies with the angle of friction and cohesive strength of retained material.

Gravity walls rely on their mass for resistance of pressure exerted on them by pressure behind. Construction is done using stones and concrete to make them heavy. Stability is improved by incorporating batter setback. Sometimes they are made to lean toward the load. Dry-stacked variety is constructed to be flexible and when constructed in regions where frosting occurs, their footings are made rigid.

Most retaining walls constructed during the early years of the 20th century were of the gravity variety. Their construction was done using big masses of concrete and stone. Those that are being constructed in modern times are made of composite materials. Major construction materials include crib walls, soil-nailed walls, and gabions. Construction of gabions is done using stacked steel wire baskets which are filled with rocks.

The making of cantilevered retaining walls involves the use of internal stems of steel-reinforced, cast-in-place concrete, and mortared masonry. In some circumstances, buttressing is done to the front side. More strength for supporting heavier loads is achieved through the addition of counterfort. Fronts may also be buttressed. Buttresses resemble wing walls and their installation is done perpendicularly to main walls. It takes less construction material to make cantilevered walls in comparison to gravity walls.

Sheet pile retaining walls are placed in tight spaces and soft soils. They are made from a wide variety of materials including wood planks, vinyl, or steel driven into the soil. At least a third of the material is driven into the ground while two thirds remain above the ground. However, depending on the environment, these measurements may be altered.

Bored pile varieties of these walls get made by assembling sequences of bored piles. This is preceded by excess soil in the site being excavated. Some of the materials that may be included in the construction are soil enhancement operations, shotcrete reinforcement layer, reinforcing beams, and earth anchors. Bored pile walls are built in situations where sheet piling walls can be built but vibration and noise levels are unacceptable.

A lot of evolution has occurred in construction styles. The methods of reinforcing the walls are also many and diversified. Some of the commonly used retention methods employed are cellular confinement, soil-strengthening, soil nailing, and gabion meshes.




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