Retaining walls are simple yet complex structures that provide various benefits, from holding soil and preventing erosion to uplifting the beauty of the place. The construction of retaining walls is popular due to their many advantages and ability to manage home or commercial spaces. Many homeowners today follow DIY (Do It Yourself) ideas to build a retaining wall in their space or premises. But when building this type of wall, several factors, such as soil type, drainage plan requirements, and calculation of load and surcharge needs, are important to consider. Although you use high-quality materials, poor design and ignoring these factors may reduce the reliability and effectiveness of your retaining wall building project.
In this retaining wall design guide, we provide a clear and easy explanation regarding how retaining wall design impacts its overall durability and quality. You can implement the guide in your next DIY retaining wall design calculations and make your retaining wall durable and reliable.
What Is a Retaining Wall?
Before proceeding directly to the retaining wall design and factors that influence its design, let's know what a retaining wall is. Retaining walls are structures built to hold soil and other materials to prevent erosion, manage slopes, and manage space aesthetically. These walls provide structural support where land surfaces are not even or flat. It is built using various materials such as concrete sleepers, retaining wall posts, drainage pipes, and placing soil or gravel properly.
Retaining walls are mostly built in residential spaces, road projects, and commercial areas to manage water flow, control soil erosion, and decorate the space.
Factors Affecting Retaining Wall Design
When building a retaining wall, it is important to consider various factors from the design stage. Considering key factors like soil type, drainage, and calculating the wall load and surcharge of the wall helps in improving the load-bearing capacity and durability of retaining wall. Below we explain why considering these factors matters
Soil type
The soil type varies according to your place’s location, climate, and slope factors. And when planning the wall design, height, post spacing, and selecting materials, these factors are important to keep in mind.
If the soil is light and sandy, it puts low pressure on the wall. It also drains water properly. But in places where soil is sandy or light, proper compacting is important to ensure it does not shift. You can use Geo Fabric Rolls to hold soil while letting water drain properly in such soil conditions.
Meanwhile, if the soil in your area is composed of clay, it can be heavier and put pressure on the wall. In such soil conditions, appropriate wall height, proper drainage management, durable materials such as concrete sleepers and retaining wall posts must be selected.
Drainage requirements
Drainage installations are important steps every builder must consider when building a retaining wall structure. Whether you are a DIY builder or experienced builder, a proper plan with proper drainage system helps in eliminating the hydrostatic pressure to the retaining wall.
When building a retaining wall structure in your home or commercial space, make sure you install drainage pipes to make sure drains are managed properly. A proper drainage system helps in:
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Reducing the water and soil pressure on the wall
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Preventing wall shifting, cracks, and bending
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Improves durability and reliability of walls
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Controlling soil erosion
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Improves structural integrity while also reducing timely repair
Wall Load and surcharge
Wall load refers to the load of soil or water that puts pressure on the retaining wall structure. Meanwhile surcharge load refers to additional pressure that is added on top of the wall such as pressure of vehicles or any objects.
When planning the retaining wall structure, calculating the wall load and surcharge is important for structural integrity. If your wall required sustaining high load and surcharge, it is important to limit the height of the wall.
In addition to height limitation, minimising post spacing, increasing post depth, and using high-quality construction material are important.
Why Each Factors Matters For Safety And Durability
From soil type, wall load and surcharge pressure to drainage consideration, every factor matters in retaining wall project. These factors matters because they impact the safety and durability of the project.
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Soil factors: Considering soil factors such as type, slope, and drainability matters, as ignoring such factors leads to crack formation, collapse, and bending of retaining wall due to pressure.
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Drainage factors: Drains provides safety and long-term durability to the wall. Managed drainage systems minimise the wall failure caused by hydrostatic and soil pressure.
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Wall load: When wall length, height, and load factors are considered during designing and construction phase, the chance of weight burden to wall reduces. It minimises the chance of wall collapse, bending, or shifting of poles due to excess pressure.
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Surcharge pressure: Surcharge pressure adds extra pressure on the wall. The force of fence, heavy objects, and vehicles inside the retaining wall structure increases the pressure to wall. If the pressure is not considered during the construction, the surcharge load might cause overloading and sudden failure of the structure.
Conclusion
Building a retaining wall structure requires smart consideration of factors such as soil type, drainage, wall load, and surcharge loads. Following appropriate guidelines from planning to construction phase brings durability, reliability, and aesthetic appeal to the project. Whether you are a homeowner or DIY builder planning to build retaining wall, knowing these basic factors helps in making better decisions while also avoiding costly and hectic repairs in long term. And if you require high-quality construction materials for building retaining wall, visit Austrina Steels. Austrina Steels is Australia’s leading construction supplier that supplies high-quality galvanised steel, concrete sleepers, and all kinds of retaining wall materials at the best price
