Gravity Retaining Walls
With increased construction activities in the past few years, the demand for more complex retaining walls and other ground retention systems has grown significantly. This course introduces the general concepts and principles of the design and the construction of gravity retaining walls such as reinforced concrete walls, block walls and crib walls.
Description
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 access conditions on site.
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 reinforced concrete gravity walls, block walls and crib 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 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 suggested site investigation methods).
2. Design principles of gravity retaining walls under static and seismic loading.
3. Construction methods for selected gravity retaining walls (e.g., reinforced concrete gravity walls, block walls, crib walls, soil nailing).
4. Design example: Cantilevered reinforced concrete wall.
5. Design example: Crib wall.
6. Design example: Soil nailing
Learning outcomes
Participants should be able to:
- Explain the difference 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.
- Apply fundamentals of soil nailing designs and how soil nails differ from anchors.
- Identify fundamental construction aspects and main construction risks associated with reinforced concrete gravity 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.
Format
This highly interactive course is presented ‘live’, either face-to-face or online, which allows a close interaction with the presenter.
We explore and discuss the general differences between gravity retaining walls and embedded retaining structures, the suggested site investigation requirements, and the calculation of static and seismic earth pressures in accordance with relevant codes, standards and guidelines.
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, three simple design examples (modules 4 to 6) will be presented to support the learning experience.
There will be sufficient time for discussions throughout the day.
Presenter Information
Dr Martin Larisch is a Fellow with Engineering New Zealand and the Principal of his own independent geotechnical consultancy firm in Waikanae, Kapiti Coast. 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.
He held various technical and operational positions for some of the leading geotechnical contracting and consultancy firms in New Zealand, Australia and Europe.
Throughout his professional career (which he started as a carpenter in Germany) he gained in-depth understanding and a holistic perspective of the different life cycle requirements and the risk profile of various retaining walls, deep basement, shafts and temporary excavation systems from feasibility stage to project delivery. He has also been involved in the assessment of defective retention systems and the remediation of such defects.
Martin has published more than 30 technical papers for international journals and conferences, and he was involved in the review and development of various best industry guidelines for deep foundations in New Zealand, Australia and Europe.
He was appointed Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Queensland (Brisbane) from 2104 until 2021 and facilitated numerous lectures and seminars related to ground engineering.
Martin is a current member of the New Zealand Geotechnical Society (NZGS) Management Committee and is also representing the NZGS in Technical Committee TC212 ‘Deep Foundations’ at the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).