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Stability analysis
Learning objectives: 1. Basic Stability Analysis Background
2. Analysis: Gravity and Cantilever Retaining Walls
Lesson #1: Basic Stability Analysis Background:
When analyzing a retaining wall, the wall can fail in three different ways. Sliding, Toppling,
and soil bearing capacity failure. Doing this section we will look at the first two ways, and talk
discuss the bearing capacity in a different section.
1.
The retaining wall can slide. This is called a sliding failure. The example is
below, The retaining wall will fail if the Force force is less than the resultant
Vertical Force. The Factor of Safety (FoS) = F(floor) / F
Height (h)
Resultant
Vertical Force
F =.5 Ka * * h2
F(floor) = tan x W
H = Ka * * h
Weight(W)
Where:
W = weight of the retaining wall
= friction angle between concrete and soil
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The Resistance Against Overturning. The example is below, The retaining wall will
fail if the overturning moment (F x (h/3)) is greater than the resisting moment (W x
a). The Factor of Safety (FoS) against overturning = resisting moment overturning
moment = (3 x W x a) / (F x h)
Height (h)
PT. A
Resultant
Vertical Force
F = Ka * * h2/2
a
Weight(W)
H = Ka * * h
Where:
a = distance from Pt. A to the center of
gravity of weight
The best way to explain these stability analysis problems are with examples;
Ex. 1: Gravity retaining wall with sand backfill with no groundwater. The height of
the retaining wall, h, is 25 ft, the weight of the retaining wall is 60 tons for a 1 ft
length of the wall and the weight acts at a distance of 12 ft from the tow of point
A. The friction angle of the soil backfill is 30o. The soil backfill mainly consists
of sandy soil. The density of the soils is 130 pcf. The friction angle between the
soil and earth at the bottom of the retaining wall was found to be 20o. Find the
factor of safety for the retaining wall shown above.
Step 1: Calculate Ka.
Ka = tan2 (45 /2) = tan2 (45 30/2) = .33
Step 2: Calculate the horizontal effective stress.
= Ka h = .33 x 130 lbs/cf x 25 ft = 1073 psf
Step 3: Find the resultant earth pressure
F = x (h/2) = 1073 psf x (25ft/2) = 13,413 lbs per foot of wall
Step 4: Find the resistance against sliding at the base.
FFloor = weight of the wall x tan () = 60 tons 2000 lbs/ton x tan (20) = 43,676 lbs per
foot of wall
Step 5: Find the Factor of safety for Sliding.
The Factor of Safety (FoS) = F(floor) / F = 43,676 / 13,413 = 3.26 FS
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So the concern limiting Factor of Safety is the sliding failure which is 3.26. This is still
acceptable.
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W3
PT. A
Passive Resultant
Vertical Force
F = Kp * * h2/2
W2
W1
Height (h)
a
F(floor) = tan x W
H = Ka * * h
W4
Weight(W) = W1 +W2 +W3 + W4
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Active Resultant
Vertical Force
F = Ka * * h2/2
7 ft
Sand
= 132 pcf
= 34
c=0
13 ft
2 ft
3 ft
PT. A
10 ft
W3
W1
W2
6.3
W4
15 ft
Height (h)
12 ft
PT. A
Sand
= 130 pcf
= 30
Clay
= 120 pcf
c = 320 psf
6ft
W = 40 tons per ft
Height (h)
12 ft
F2 @ 1/2
from bottom
F3 @ 1/3
from bottom
6ft
PT. A
W = 40 tons per ft
Ex. 3 continued:
Step 6: Find the resistance against overturning.
Resisting moment = W x a = 80,000 lbs x 6 ft = 480,000 lbs ft
Step 7: Find the overturning moment:
Overturning moment = F1 x H/3 = 4,830 lbs ft x (15/3) = 24,150 lb ft
Overturning moment = F2 x H/2 = 15,720 lbs ft x (12/2) = 94,320 lb ft
Overturning moment = F3 x H/3 = 8,640 lbs ft x (12/3) = 34,560 lb ft
Step 8: Find the FS.
Factor of Safety = 480,000 lbs ft / (24,150 + 94,560 + 34,560) lbs ft
= 480,000 / 153,270 = 3.13 FS
So the limiting Factor of Safety of concern is the sliding failure which is 1.28. Which is
most likely unacceptable for your design so you would need to add more weight to the
gravity retaining wall.
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