Retaining Wall Calculation Verification – Reinforced concrete cantilever – Imperial
The data used in this verification example and the results to compare with SkyCiv Retaining Wall Design Software were taken from: The Reinforced Concrete Design Handbook, ACI SP-17(14), Vol. 2, p. 24. This model is particularly interesting because it is a cantilever concrete Retaining Wall with no surcharge applied on the active soil zone.
Input data
Stem
- Height: 16 ft 9 in (16.75 ft)
- Width: 1 ft 3 in (1.25 ft)
- Offset: 2 ft 6 in (2.5 ft)
Base
- Width: 9 ft 3 in (9.25 ft)
- Thickness: 1 ft 3 in (1.25 ft)
Active and Passive Soil
- Unit weight: 110 pcf (0.11 kcf)
- Friction Angle: 35 degrees
Substructure Soil
- Unit weight: 110 pcf (0.11 kcf)
- Friction Angle: 35 degrees
- Soil-Concrete Friction Coefficient: 0.5
- Allowable bearing pressure: 3000 psf (3 ksf)
Soil Layers:
- Active: 18 ft (18.0 ft)
- Passive: 3 ft
- Substructure: 3 ft
Surcharge Load Value: 0 psf (0.00 ksf)
Results
After creating the model in the SkyCiv Retaining Wall Software it was solved. The following table shows the results obtained using the software and the ones reported in The Reinforced Concrete Design Handbook:
| Units | ACI Manual | SkyCiv | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overturning | ||||
| Sum of vertical loads | kip | 15.008 | 15.012 | 0.03% |
| Restoring moment | kip * ft | 83.704 | 83.718 | 0.02% |
| Sum of horizontal loads | kip | 4.829 | 4.829 | 0.00% |
| Overturning moment | kip * ft | 28.974 | 28.974 | 0.00% |
| FoS | – | 2.890 | 2.889 | -0.03% |
| Sliding | ||||
| FoS | – | 1.550 | 1.554 | 0.26% |
| Bearing | ||||
| Distance of the resultant | ft | 3.650 | 3.647 | -0.08% |
| Eccentricity | ft | 0.980 | 0.978 | -0.20% |
| Maximum Pressure | ksf | 2.653 | 2.653 | 0.00% |
| Minimum Pressure | ksf | 0.591 | 0.593 | 0.34% |
| FoS | – | 1.131 | 1.131 | 0.02% |
