Lessons Learned From Failures: The Wall of Shame

摘要

With the ever increasing number of segmental retaining walls beingconstructed, the number of failures associated with these structures is also increasing.The failures of these structures can vary from catastrophic failures to unacceptableperformance in terms of distress. Failures can be the result of the design activities orconstruction of the retaining wall or a hybrid of both. Design-related failures areoften attributed to a lack of understanding of site conditions, improper geotechnicalparameters considered, or a lack of understanding of subsurface conditions. Lack ofcoordination between the wall designer, the site civil engineer, and/or the projectgeotechnical engineer is attributed to many design failures. Many design-relatedfailures can be attributed to the presence of water either within the retained soils or atthe toe of the wall, leading to unaccounted for hydrostatic pressures behind theretaining wall or scour, respectively. Construction related failures may be related to adeviation from the contract documents, lack of storm water control duringconstruction, poor quality control or a lack of engineering. The paper will featurenumerous case histories discussing failures associated with design related andconstruction related failures. By illustrating the variations of segmental retainingwall failures, the number of failures associated with segmental retaining walls may bereduced.