There are different types of gravity retaining walls, categorized according to the load transfer mechanism, type of materials used for construction, construction method, etc. The types of support structures can be divided into seven main categories.
- Gravity Retaining Walls
- Semigravity retaining walls
- Designing retaining walls
- Buttress retaining walls
- Retaining walls with supporting pillars
- Sheet pile retaining walls (cantilevered and anchored)
- Different types (mud walls, gabion walls and grid walls)
This article discusses design aspects of gravity retaining walls. Gravity retaining walls are constructed of solid concrete and have the enormous volume required to maintain stability.
In general, vertical and horizontal forces act on the retaining wall depending on the nature of the soil. Based on the forces acting on the retaining wall, it is determined whether it topples, slides or rests.
Generally, low quality concrete is used for the construction of retaining walls to avoid thermal cracks in the raw concrete. When designing the mixture, special care must be taken to minimize the heat of hydration.
Semi-gravity retaining walls are designed to reduce wall size or concrete mass. To reduce the size of the retaining wall, a small amount of reinforcement is added. The reinforcement is further increased to reduce the cross-sectional dimensions of the retaining wall.
When the height of retaining walls is significant and gravity walls are constructed, the construction cost is significant. However, this can be compensated for by reducing the cross-sectional dimensions and increasing the area of reinforcement. This needs to be done as an optimization process.
