What are the Types of Retaining Walls?

 Construction of retaining walls is one type of civil construction that serves to hold the force of the lateral active pressure of soil and water. The Retaining Walls Perth confirms that a retaining wall construction must be planned and designed to be safe from forces that have the potential to cause structural failure. In principle, the retaining wall accepts forces in the form of rolling moments, own gravity, lateral soil/active water, sliding, sloping and uplifting. Thus, the steadiness of a retaining wall construction must be designed appropriately so that it can withstand these forces. If it is not built upon a strong foundation and suitable techniques, your retaining wall construction will be easily deteriorated.

Retaining walls in civil construction practices have many types. It depends on the applications and the cases that will be used such as to withstand soil pressure on the slope, embankment, basement construction, retention pond, water dam construction, sediment transport barrier on rivers, and etc. Basically, the retaining wall has three major functions, namely;

Ø  Resisting the lateral pressure of the active soil that can potentially cause lateral destructions of the land such as landslides.

Ø  Resists lateral water pressure which can potentially cause lateral collapse due to large water pressure.

Ø  Preventing the occurrence of lateral water seepage processes caused by the condition of a high groundwater level. In this case, it also functions in the dewatering process, namely by cutting the flow of water and the ground.

The followings are the types of retaining walls that you should know:

1. Gravity retaining wall

Gravity retaining wall is widely used to hold lateral soil pressure on landfills and on sloping areas. The working principle of this type of retaining wall is quite authentic, which relies on the mass weight of the construction body. This allows the firmness of the structure can be more stable due to its heavyweight in resisting lateral soil gravity. The fundamental materials that are commonly used to make gravity retaining wall constructions are stones and concrete materials.

2. Sheet Pile Wall

Sheet Pile Wall is generally used to hold active soil pressure lateral to the land on embankments and to stem water. The sheet pile wall construction is commonly using pre-strained concrete materials both in the form of corrugate-flat and from steel materials. The construction of a sheet pile type retaining wall is quite slim. It relies on the pinch resistance at the depth of the foundation. It can also be combined with the anchored system which has been adjusted to the planning designs. In the implementation, sheet pile depth can reach elevation to hard ground.

3. Concrete block retaining walls

Concrete block retaining wall is a collection of massive concrete blocks arranged vertically with locking systems between blocks arranged. Generally, concrete blocks are made modularly in fabrication in the form of precast concrete. After that, the next thing is to make the installation process.

4. Cantilever Retaining Wall

Cantilever Retaining Wall is generally used to withstand soil pressure on embankments and on cliffs. The working principle of this type of retaining wall is by relying on fixed power on the base of the body structure. Therefore, the characteristic of cantilever retaining walls is the palm/spread model extending to the base of the clamped structure to maintain the stability of the retaining structure. Generally, the construction of a type of retaining wall is made of stone pairs or with reinforced concrete construction.

5. Diaphragm Wall Retaining Wall

Diaphragm Wall construction is a type of retaining wall construction which is made from a series of reinforced concrete iron in a place or with a modular system that is made to cover a sub-structure construction especially in construction for the basement of a building. The diaphragm wall can be combined with an anchored system to increase the carrying capacity of the lateral active the pressure of the soil also functions in the dewatering process.

6. Revetment retaining walls

This type of revetment retaining wall construction serves to hold and strengthen slopes or cliffs and to protect coastal areas or river banks from scouring rivers and waves. This type of construction basically does not have the main function in resisting the active lateral pressure of the soil but rather the protection function against the effects of scouring or erosion which can damage the stability of slopes and embankments which of course can potentially lead to landslides.