Applications

Massive concrete walls constructed on rock foundations, as well as other nonmoving retaining walls, are customarily designed for at-rest earth pressures. Vertical shear loads applied by the backfill are usually not considered in design of nonmoving walls, even though many field and laboratory measurements have shown that such loads exist. Vertical shear loads can be very beneficial for stability of retaining walls, because they provide restoring moments to counteract overturning moments from lateral earth loads. In this paper, model test results and case history data are reviewed, the results of finite-element calculations are presented, and a simple design procedure is developed. It is shown that significant economies can result from consideration of vertical shear forces in design of nonmoving retaining walls.