Cantilever retaining wall design: what to check under the 2023 (ROC 112) code

1Design basis

Current design follows the 2023 (ROC 112) editions of the Design Specifications for Foundations of Buildings and the Taiwan Design Specifications for Concrete Structures of Buildings [5, 6]. External stability is checked with safety factors, and members such as the stem and base slab are designed for strength.

2External stability: static and seismic

External stability must be checked separately for the static and seismic cases:

• Overturning: the ratio of resisting moment to overturning moment
• Sliding: base friction and adhesion, with passive pressure in front of the wall and the shear key included where appropriate
• Eccentricity: whether the resultant falls within the permitted range of the base
• Bearing: whether the maximum base pressure is below the allowable bearing capacity of the ground

3Earth pressure and water

In addition to static active earth pressure, seismic earth pressure must be included for earthquake conditions, commonly using Mononobe–Okabe theory [7]. Where there is groundwater behind or in front of the wall, water pressure, uplift on the base slab, and hydrodynamic pressure during an earthquake must also be considered.

4Member design

The stem, toe, heel, and shear key must each be checked for flexural and shear strength, with temperature reinforcement provided and development lengths confirmed. Stem moments decrease with height, so longitudinal bars are often cut off at suitable heights to save material.

5Completing it in StructFlow

The StructFlow cantilever retaining wall tool covers all of the items above, automatically selects the most economical reinforcement that passes every check, and produces a printable calculation report.

References

1. Mander, J. B., Priestley, M. J. N., & Park, R. (1988). Theoretical stress-strain model for confined concrete. Journal of Structural Engineering, 114(8), 1804–1826. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(1988)114:8(1804)
2. Popovics, S. (1973). A numerical approach to the complete stress-strain curve of concrete. Cement and Concrete Research, 3(5), 583–599. doi:10.1016/0008-8846(73)90096-3
3. Whitney, C. S. (1937). Design of reinforced concrete members under flexure or combined flexure and direct compression. ACI Journal Proceedings, 33(3), 483–498. doi:10.14359/8429
4. ACI Committee 318. (2019). Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete (ACI 318-19) and Commentary (ACI 318R-19). American Concrete Institute. doi:10.14359/51716937
5. 內政部（Ministry of the Interior, Taiwan）. (2023). 建築物混凝土結構設計規範（Design Specifications for Concrete Structures of Buildings），112 年 8 月 10 日修正發布，113 年 1 月 1 日生效. nlma.gov.tw
6. 內政部（Ministry of the Interior, Taiwan）. (2023). 建築物基礎構造設計規範（Design Specifications for Foundations of Buildings），112 年 6 月 20 日修正發布，113 年 1 月 1 日生效. nlma.gov.tw
7. Mononobe, N., & Matsuo, H. (1929). On the determination of earth pressure during earthquakes. Proceedings of the World Engineering Congress, Vol. 9, Tokyo, 177–185.
8. Sutherland, I. E., & Hodgman, G. W. (1974). Reentrant polygon clipping. Communications of the ACM, 17(1), 32–42. doi:10.1145/360767.360802
9. National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE). 台灣新型高強度鋼筋混凝土（Taiwan New RC）專區. ncree.niar.org.tw/service/newrc
10. Chiu, C.-K., Hung, C.-C., Lin, K.-C., Liu, K.-Y., Lee, H.-J., Cheng, M.-Y., et al. (2019). Design Guideline for Building of High-Strength Reinforced Concrete Structures (Draft), NCREE-19-001. National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering.
11. Hung, C.-C., & Li, S.-H. (2013). Three-dimensional model for analysis of high performance fiber reinforced cement-based composites. Composites Part B: Engineering, 45(1), 1441–1447. doi:10.1016/j.compositesb.2012.08.004
12. Hung, C.-C., El-Tawil, S., & Chao, S.-H. (2021). A review of developments and challenges for UHPC in structural engineering: Behavior, analysis, and design. Journal of Structural Engineering, 147(9), 03121001. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0003073
13. Shao, Y., Kuo, C.-W., & Hung, C.-C. (2021). Seismic performance of full-scale UHPC-jacket-strengthened RC columns under high axial loads. Engineering Structures, 243, 112657. doi:10.1016/j.engstruct.2021.112657
14. Hung, C.-C., Kuo, C.-W., & Shao, Y. (2021). Cast-in-place and prefabricated UHPC jackets for retrofitting shear-deficient RC columns with different axial load levels. Journal of Building Engineering, 44, 103305. doi:10.1016/j.jobe.2021.103305
15. Ou, Y.-C., Alrasyid, H., Haber, Z. B., & Lee, H.-J. (2015). Cyclic behavior of precast high-strength reinforced concrete columns. ACI Structural Journal, 112(6), 839–850. doi:10.14359/51687911
16. Shen, W.-C., & Hwang, S.-J. (2023). Confinement reinforcement of high-strength reinforced concrete tied columns under high axial load. ACI Structural Journal, 120(3), 145–155. doi:10.14359/51738505

Further reading