Gravity Retaining Walls

The type and complexity of a retaining wall is typically governed by various factors such as ground conditions on site, wall type, wall height, wall deflection limits, wall loading, construction staging and/ or site access conditions.

Participants will gain a fundamental understanding of the important aspects and concepts of the design and construction of common types of gravity retaining walls such as cantilevered reinforced concrete walls and block walls. The concept of soil nailing, which is a special case of ground retention that is designed following the general principles of gravity wall designs, will also be addressed.

The following modules will be covered.

1. Fundamentals of different retaining wall and retention systems (e.g., wall types, scope, performance, geotechnical design parameters and suitable site investigation methods).
2. Design principles of gravity retaining walls under static and seismic loading conditions.
3. Fundamental construction methods for selected gravity retaining wall types (e.g., cantilevered reinforced concrete walls, block walls, crib walls, MSE walls) and the basics of soil nailing.

Design example: Cantilevered reinforced concrete wall.

Learning outcomes

Participants should be able to:

• Explain the fundamental differences between gravity walls and embedded retaining structures.
• Explain the difference between ‘active’ and ‘passive’ wall systems.
• List selected performance criteria for gravity retaining walls.
• Identify suggested site investigation and soil testing methods to obtain reliable geotechnical design parameters for the design of gravity retaining walls.
• Apply design fundamentals for gravity retaining walls considering aspects like static and seismic earth pressure as well as sliding, bearing capacity and global stability.
• Explore the fundamental concept of soil nailing designs and how soil nails differ from ground anchors.

Identify fundamental construction aspects and main construction risks associated with cantilevered reinforced concrete walls, block walls, crib walls and soil nailing.

Intended audience

Suitable as a refresher for more experienced geotechnical, civil, and structural design engineers, construction professionals or as an introduction to engineers or constructers in their early career to understand the principles of static & seismic retaining wall design and the important differences between gravity walls and embedded retaining walls.

Especially modules 1 and 3 are also designed for construction professionals (project & site engineers, project & construction managers, supervisors, builders or specialist contractors) to understand some of the key risks related to the general design and construction aspects of retaining walls and other retention systems.

Course participants should be familiar with fundamental geotechnical and structural design principles but no experience in retaining wall design is required.

Course Format

This highly practical course is presented ‘live’, either face-to-face or online, which allows a close interaction with the presenter.

The first part of the course will cover the fundamentals of the design (modules 1 & 2) and construction (module 3) of gravity retaining walls. At the end of the course, one real world design example (module 4) will be presented to support the learning experience.

There will be sufficient time for discussions throughout the day.

Presenter

Dr Martin Larisch is an Independent Geotechnical and Civil Engineer (Larisch Consulting Ltd) and a Fellow with Engineering New Zealand. He has been involved in the design, construction and verification of a large number and variety of different ground retention systems for more than 25 years across New Zealand, Australia and Germany.

Prior to starting his own consultancy firm, he held various technical and operational positions for some of the leading geotechnical contracting and consultancy firms in New Zealand, Australia and Europe.