Friday, May 6, 2016

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.

There are many types of these walls. Some of the examples are gravity, piling, cantilever, and anchored walls. They are meant to support a wedge of soil. The design and construction is done in a way as to counteract the tendency of retained material to shift downslope as a result of gravity. Gravity creates lateral earth pressure on the back of the wall. The pressure depends on the angle of friction and cohesive strength of the material retained.

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.

Gravity walls dominated in most sites during the first half of the twentieth century. Big stones and concrete were used in their construction. During the second half of the century, gravity walls started to be made using composite materials. Gabions, crib walls, and soil-nailed walls were the major construction materials in use. Rocks are used to fill stacked steel wire baskets to construct gabions.

The construction of cantilevered retaining walls is done from internal stems made from mortared masonry, steel-reinforced, and cast-in-place concrete. The front may be buttressed in some situations. For additional strength to resist heavy loads, the front side may comprise of counterfort. Buttresses are made to resemble wing walls and are installed perpendicularly to the trend of the main wall. Compared to gravity walls, cantilevered walls consume less construction material.

Soft grounds and tight spaces do well with sheet pile retaining walls. The materials used to make these walls are many and diverse and they include steel bars, vinyl, and wood planks. One third of the material protrudes above the ground wile the other two third is driven underground. Theses measurements can be changed as dictated by the situation.

Construction of bored pile walls involves assembling sequences of bored piles. Excess soil on the site of construction is excavated first. Many techniques are employed in the construction process including reinforcing beams, earth anchors, shotcrete reinforcement layer, and soil enhancement operations. Bored pile walls and sheet piling walls can be constructed in the same location. Bored pile walls are preferred if noise and vibration levels are not supposed to be very high.

Evolution of construction styles has been very fast. There are many diverse methods of reinforcing walls after being constructed. Retention methods are also many and the common ones include soil-strengthening, soil nailing, cellular confinement, and gabion meshes.




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