INVESTIGATION OF GRAVITY RETAINING WALLS WITH RELIEF-SHELF

Abstract

Retaining walls are the type of structures which are mostly utilized in different infrastructure projects, like construction of highways, railway engineering, construction of bridges etc. Their main function is to impound the backfill material by resisting the lateral earth pressure exerted by the backfill geo-material. Some of the common types of retaining walls are gravity retaining walls, sheet pile walls, cantilever retaining walls which have been widely utilized in different domains of civil engineering and some of the novel types of retaining walls include gabion walls, hunchbacked retaining walls, and relief-shelf earth retaining structures. In case of seismic loading due to inertial effects transmitted by the backfill soil, these structures experience substantial lateral thrust and may lead to failures. In order to avert such catastrophic failures, these structures should have the capability to resist the excessive lateral thrust on account of both natural as well as human induced calamities.