Question

What all factors an engineer must consider for designing a retaining wall to retain a soil of height 10m? How those factors are different for a cohesionless soil, a cohesive soil and a saturated soil?

Answer 1

foctors are

i) safety against overturing of wall

ii) required wall height

iii) characteristics of soil to be retained

iv) ground water conditions

v) time and economy of the wall construction

if soil is cohesive soil it dones not drain easily so excess pressure will be on wall sao wall design should be acoording to this excess pressure due to water.

on the other hand cohesion less soil can be drain easily. so we can use drainage system to dain out water ( like weep holes in wall ) so no need to consider water pressure in wall design.