Well, retaining walls are structures that are designed and constructed to resist the lateral soil pressure, when there is a desired change in ground elevation. There are cement, stone, and other materials that are used to make the retaining walls, and they can enhance the overall quality of the land gradient and stop the erosion of any kind. They are widely used to bound soils between two major elevations, mostly in areas of terrain possessing undesired slopes or in some areas where the landscape must be shaped severely and engineered for specified purposes like roadway overpass, hillside farming, and more.
Focusing on the gravity wall
The gravity walls will solely depend on the mass for resisting pressure from behind and will have a batter setback for improving stability by leaning back towards the retained soil.
- Then you have dry-stacked gravity walls, which are flexible and won’t need a rigid footing. They have a kind of batter setback that is made of stone and cement. It has a batter setback pattern, and they are more flexible in nature due to which they do not require any kind of heavy footing.
- Right now, the taller versions of the retaining walls are crafted like the composite gravity walls.
- Some of those examples over here are crib walls, gabions, geocell cellular confinement walls, and more.
Cantilever retaining walls
These are some of the major examples of retaining walls, made out of the best quality concrete materials over here. Here, the lateral earth pressure is primarily resisted by the use of the structural action of the members.
- The wall’s base is thoroughly extended into backfill on the heel side and then provides major added lateral stability to the said wall.
- Then the back side of the wall towards the heel area is given a major slope.
- It helps in increasing the wall’s width with the depth, which remains similar to the increase in that lateral earth pressure with a complete depth around here.
The embedded version of the retaining walls
There are embedded retaining walls available, which are used for forming near-surface underground structures like metro stations, car parks, and basements.
- Walls here are huge and so you have to be sure of the constructional stability of such retaining wall over here.
- This form of retaining walls is made using various methods. For example, there is something called the concrete cantilever retaining wall that can hold back soil to its original position and does not lead to any type of weathering. It helps the wall from getting damaged by sudden overturning or falling.
Buttressed retaining wall
Whenever the triangular beams are placed right at the front side of the chosen retaining walls, in place of the backfill side under some scenarios, the wall is known as the buttressed retaining wall.
- Here, the structural action of the stem will remain the same as you can see in the counter fort retaining wall over here.
- But here the heel slab will mainly act out as the cantilever slab, as you can see in the cantilever retaining wall between the buttresses. For example, you can install the buttressed and the counter-fort walls to enhance the stability of a certain commercial establishment.
- These buttresses are mainly subject to compression because of the lateral earth pressure of backfill on the stem and it is due to the upward soil pressure on the current toe slab over here.
Remember to choose the best option
It is highly recommended to go through all the possible types of retaining walls before you get to finalize the one you like. Depending on not just the property, but the right retaining wall selection depends a lot on the money you are comfortable spending. Once the payments are done, things will gladly start to work in your favor.
