Sunday, April 24, 2016

Basic Information On 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.

The varieties of these walls are many. Gravity, anchored, piling, and cantilever walls are major examples. They are constructed to offer support to a wedge of soil. Gravity causes retained soil to tend to shift downslope. Therefore, the way the structure is designed and installed must counteract this tendency. Lateral earth pressure starts to occur because of the gravitational pull. Generation of pressure differs according to cohesive strength and the angle of friction of retained material.

The mass of gravity walls play a major role in their ability to resist pressure they get exposed to. They are made heavy using concrete and stones. Incorporation of batter setback helps to improve stability. They may be constructed in a way as to lean towards the load they support. Dry-stacked varieties are made flexible with flexible footings when they are made in frost prone region.

Most retaining walls constructed during the early years of the 20th century were of the gravity variety. Their construction was done using big masses of concrete and stone. Those that are being constructed in modern times are made of composite materials. Major construction materials include crib walls, soil-nailed walls, and gabions. Construction of gabions is done using stacked steel wire baskets which are filled with rocks.

Cantilevered retaining walls are constructed from an interior stem made from cast-in-place concrete, mortared masonry, or steel-reinforced. Cantilevered walls sometimes get buttressed at the front side. The back may also comprise of a counterfort to enhance the strength of the walls necessary for resisting lofty loads. Buttresses are made in the form of wing walls placed perpendicularly to the main wall trend. These walls need less material to construct compared to gravity walls.

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.

Bored pile varieties of these walls get made by assembling sequences of bored piles. This is preceded by excess soil in the site being excavated. Some of the materials that may be included in the construction are soil enhancement operations, shotcrete reinforcement layer, reinforcing beams, and earth anchors. Bored pile walls are built in situations where sheet piling walls can be built but vibration and noise levels are unacceptable.

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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