Retaining Wall Module (Prokon Module)

[dl5150]

Hi to all. I am a starter in design and I am currently evaluating the retaining wall module of the software Prokon.
The part that confuses me here is the H2 input (height of the soil outside the wall)
My question: Is it safe for me to use H2=0 or shall I use the depth of the retaining wall foundation?

 

[RFreund]

Do a design via hand calcs or create a spreadsheet first, get a feel for how all the factors effect the design then come back and you will probably answer your own question.

Unfortunately I am not familiar with the software, what is H2?

EIT

http://www.HowToEngineer.com

 

[structSU10]

I don't know the program you are refering to, but is the soil on the other side of the retained soil? It is conservative to ignore this soil, as it will provide passive resistance that will help to resist sliding of the wall. In many cases, for small walls, its best to ignore because it allows for it to be backfilled on the retained side without additional work on the unretained earth side.

 

[dl5150]

H2= height of soil from in the passive side of the retaining wall. Yes i believe this can be ignored when checking sliding.
But are the passive and active soil pressures acting simultaneously on the retaining wall? Since in bearing capacity check under the footing, bearing stresses value will be different when ignoring the passive soil pressure than when both passive and active soil pressure simultaneously. This also will lead to different footing widths and reinforcement spacing

 

[rjenyoy12]

While I am not familiar with your software, however, it is appropriate that you model your structure based on actual condition. Thus, if you have a passive soil pressure of zero then model it as is.