Relative soil/wall stiffness effects on retaining walls propped at the crest

Review of the different methods used in current engineering practice and codes of practice for the design of retaining walls has indicated that complex and time consuming analysis is often required to model the soil behaviour. Alternatively, empirical or simple methods based on linear elasticity can be used, but their limitations are significant. A calculation procedure is developed for retaining walls propped near the crest, with reference to Eurocode 7 (BS EN 1997-1:2004), which can be used to address safety and serviceability requirements in design and takes account of both the real nature of soil behaviour and the flexibility of the wall. The results of the calculation are compared with those derived from a conventional limit equilibrium analysis and are used to develop look-up charts which can be used in design to take account of bending moment reduction due to wall flexibility effects.