Residential planter retaining wall design values

shacked · Jan 9, 2024

I have a small project, residential site walls to include planter walls that will be retaining 3ft max above grade. I'm curious as to what active soil pressure I should be using to design these planters with.
If I assume code minimum values then my active design pressure would be 60pcf. The planter is 6ft square and 3ft above the adjacent grade.
Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks

1503-44 · Jan 10, 2024

I would suggest that this being a small structure, you not design for active pressure. You need significant movement of the wall to develop either active or passive pressure, something that such a small retaining wall probably is not going to do. Or if it did, the visual appearence would most likely be unacceptable. Probably a kickout of around 1.5". So, I would design it for at rest pressure alone to try to keep movement at nearly 0.

--Einstein gave the same test to students every year. When asked why he would do something like that, "Because the answers had changed."

shacked · Jan 11, 2024

Thanks for the input.

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Residential planter retaining wall design values

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