Retaining Wall at Retention Pond 2

[lutein]

Could you please provide some tips for design of retaining wall at retention pond? Here are some that i know i should be aware of:
1. buoyency which causes reduction sliding resistance
2. check for:
1. when pond is full of water
2. when pond is empty - worst condition
3. saturation causes reduction in bearing pressure.

I would really appreciate it if you could share some of your experience and advices with me.

thank you all.

 

[VikingEngineer]

You may wish to consider the effect of vehicle loading behind the wall from maintenance or other vehicles such as cranes that may at some time be used to lift in heavy equipment.

 

[JedClampett]

I'd also design for a case of water in the pond and no soil is behind the wall. While it's conservative, you never know when someone is going to excavate next to the wall.

 

[oneintheeye]

i would suggest you always design as if soil is not present in the full case. since 1) backfill may not be adequate 2) erosion could take place 3) soil would need to 'deflect' before passive resistance is started.

 

[cvg]

Also check the rapid drawdown case - pond is drained and backfill is still saturated. This is often the worst case.

 

[jike]

If the water is against the retaining wall without a liner, then you may want to design it as a liquid containment vessel per ACI 350 to control cracking.

 

[jike]

Another reason you may want to design for no soil is that the Owner may want to hydrostatically test the adequacy of the water containment wall before backfilling so that any leaks could observed and patched beforehand.

 

[lutein]

Thanks for all of your valuable input, I am really glad that we are helping each other in this industry and that most engineers are generous to share their experiences.

 

[hoopvols]

The Army Corps of Engineers has a manual with lots of info

http://www.usace.army.mil/publications/eng-manuals/em1110-2-2502/toc.htm