Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
where
friction angle of the granular backfill. Equation (10.2) is known as the active
Rankine state, after the British engineer Rankine who in 1857 obtained this relationship.
Equation (10.2) is only valid for the simple case of a retaining wall that has a vertical rear
face, no friction between the rear wall face and backfill soil, and the backfill ground surface
is horizontal. For retaining walls that do not meet these requirements, the active earth pressure
FIGURE 10.1
Common types of retaining walls. (
a
) Gravity walls of stone, brick, or plain concrete. Weight
provides overturning and sliding stability. (
b
) Cantilevered wall. (
c
) Counterfort, or buttressed wall. If backfill
covers counterforts, the wall is termed a
counterfort.
(
d
) Crib wall. (
e
) Semigravity wall (often steel reinforce-
ment is used). (
f
) Bridge abutment. (
Reproduced from Bowles 1982 with permission of McGraw-Hill, Inc.
)
