Effect of soil and bedrock conditions below retaining walls on wall behavior

Date of Award

2012

Degree Name

M.S. in Civil Engineering

Department

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics

Advisor/Chair

Advisor: Ömer Bilgin

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to present the study on the effect of soil and bedrock conditions below retaining walls on the wall behavior. The structural design of the retaining wall considers soils on the back and front of the wall. Soils below the wall and the bedrock conditions are not considered in the structural design of the wall. This research study investigated how soils below the wall affect the wall behavior such as wall deformations, wall bending moments, and anchor force. The effects of soil strength, depth to bedrock, bedrock slope, wall height, and anchor angles on the wall behavior have been investigated. PLAXIS, finite element software package, was used to perform numerical modeling and analyses to evaluate the structural response and behavior of the retaining wall. The results show that the soil conditions below the wall, including the bedrock depth and the bedrock slope angle may have a significant effect on the wall behavior and should be considered during the design of retaining walls.

Keywords

Soil mechanics Mathematical models, Shields (Geology) Mathematical models, Retaining walls Mathematical models, Anchorage (Structural engineering)

Rights Statement

Copyright © 2012, author

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