OPTIMIZATION AND IMPROVEMENT IN STABILITY OF COUNTERFORT RETAINING WALL WITH RELIEF SHELF

Abstract

Reinforced concrete retaining walls are meant to support more height of earth mass. Cantilever retaining wall is constructed up to height of 6 m and above that it becomes uneconomical. To support more height of earth mass advancement is done in cantilever retaining wall by adding relief shelf in it. Due to provision of relief shelf the soil pressure on the retaining wall is reduced resulting in improvement in stability of retaining wall. Cantilever retaining wall with one relief shelf is economical up to height of 10 m above that counterfort retaining wall with relief shelf is useful. In this paper analysis and design of counterfort retaining wall with one relief shelf is done for various positions of relief shelf. These results are studied to get minimum earth pressure, more stability and minimum moment in each component of retaining wall. The optimization of counterfort retaining wall is done to get minimum size of retaining wall. Due to this optimization extra formation width is available in hilly areas and excessive cutting is avoided thereby construction cost reduces.