Retaining walls are structures designed and constructed to resist lateral pressure on the ground when the desired change in ground height exceeds the angle of repose of the ground. Retaining walls serve to support the ground laterally, allowing it to be held at various heights on both sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to hold the ground on slopes that are not normally held (usually steep, nearly vertical, or vertical slopes). These are used to connect the soil between two different elevations. It is often used in areas of the undesired sloping terrain, areas where landscapes need to be highly carved and designed for more specific purposes, such as hillside agriculture and road flyovers.
Different types of Retaining Walls to choose
Gravity Walls
The first type of retaining walls which you should be aware of is the gravity walls. These walls efficiently work as the lateral and base support of the walls with great height and weight. However, the gravity walls act as the retaining walls which provide adequate support utilizing its own weight and mass in the best way possible. Thus, if you want to provide sufficient support to the walls of your workplace or any other place, then gravity walls might assist you in the exact way that you want.
Cantilever Retaining Walls
Cantilever walls are composed of stem and base slabs that are made from strengthened concrete, precast concrete, or prestressed concrete. This type of retaining wall is the most popular and has been in use for a long time. This type can easily be built on a website online or prefabricated offsite i.e., precast.
The part of the bottom slab underneath the backfill fabric is called the heel, and the opposite element is known as the toe. Such retaining walls are usually low hanging and can only go up to 10 meters. It calls for a smaller amount of concrete evaluation with a gravity wall, however, its layout and production will be carried out carefully. Like the gravity wall, sliding, overturning, and bearing stress will be considered all through its layout.
Counterfort Retaining Walls
Counterfort walls are cantilevered walls. These walls are reinforced with counter parts that are monolithically coupled to the back of the wall and floor panels. Counterfort acts as tensile reinforcement, connecting the wall panel to the base to reduce bending and shear stresses. Counterforts are used to reduce the bending moments of tall vertical walls. The distance between them is more than half the height.
Crib Retaining Walls
Crib-keeping partitions are the shape of a gravity wall. They are built of interlocking person bins crafted from wood or pre-sold concrete. Then, the bins are packed with overwhelmed stone or different coarse granular substances to create an unfastened draining structure. Basic sorts of crib keeping partitions encompass strengthened precast, and wood keeping partitions. It is perfect to assist planter areas, however, it isn’t advocated for the assistance of slopes or structures.
Therefore, as you can see these are some of the various types of retaining walls. These are an important part of civil structure engineering that provides immense support to the structures. The retaining walls come in super handy in structures where support is lacking. Hence, if you have a property that lacks support using retaining walls will be a good option.