Comparative analysis and behavior of cantilever retaining wall with and without relief shelves

Abstract

Retaining walls are an essential part of almost all infrastructure projects, to support vertical backfills. There are various ways of constructing a retaining wall. Retaining wall with relief shelves is one of the subset of cantilever retaining walls. A retaining wall with pressure relief shelves decreases the active lateral earth pressure and increases the overall stability of the retaining wall. As a result of reduced earth pressure, the thickness of stem also gets reduced which results in to an economic design. The present study aims at comprehending the performance of such walls and to discover the effectiveness of these walls to reduce earth pressure. The influence of factors like the location of the shelf and stiffness of shelf, shelf width, etc., on the behavior of the retaining wall is also studied. This work presents a thorough comparative analysis of RCC cantilever retaining walls with (i) no shelves. (ii) single shelf. (iii) two shelves. (iv) three shelves (v) four shelves, with finding out the best location for providing shelves.