WHAT IS A RETAINING WALL?

Retaining walls could be an important reasonably structure in technology. The first purpose of the wall is to retain earth or different material at or close to the vertical position. These types of walls are extensively employed in a spread of things like routes, railways, bridges, irrigation engineering, land reclamation and coastal engineering etc. Concrete The retaining holding walls have a vertical or inclined stem solid monolithically with a base block. These are thought of appropriate up to a height of 6m.

These Retaining wall could be a structure used for maintaining the bottom surfaces at very different elevations on either aspect of it. It provides lateral support to vertical slopes of soil. They keep soil that might otherwise collapse into an additional form. The preserved soil is brought up as backfill. It has to be designed to carry the soil back, otherwise, it will tip over or “overturn”. There are many varieties of materials, which will be wont to produce holding walls like concrete blocks, poured concrete, treated timbers, rocks, or boulders. Some are straightforward to use, others have a shorter generation, and however, all will retain soil.

Most common materials used for holding walls are:

• Wood sheets
• Steel and plastic interlocking sheets
• Reinforced concrete sheets –
• Precast concrete parts (crib walls and block walls)
• Closely spaced unaltered soil-cement piles
• Wire-mesh boxes (gabions)
• Anchors into the soil or rock mass (soil nailing)

Types of Retaining Wall

Retaining walls are complete walls that perform as a part of landscaping. Others are elements of building, road, or bridge infrastructure. They normally created of solid in situ concrete,masonary block walls , or significant timber. Retaining walls classified as either-

Mechanical stable Earth Walls

These walls are among the foremost economical and most typically created. Contrary to different sorts, the MSE walls are supported by the soil and not the opposite means around. The MSE types are:

• Panel Walls
• Concrete Block Walls
• Temporary Earth Walls

Conventional holding walls

It consists of –

• Gravity holding Walls
• Semi-Gravity holding Walls
• Cantilever holding Walls
• Counterfort or braced holding Walls
• Stilt walls
• Miscellaneous

Gravity walls, cantilever walls, and counterfort walls are brought up as rigid holding structures.

Gravity Walls

Gravity walls are the foremost basic strengthened wall that is employed for sheer weight and mass to carry the soil treed. It depends on their self-weight and any soil resting on the concrete in resisting lateral earth forces. Gravity holding walls encompass the widest quantity of style of building materials; such as- bricks, pavers, and unmortared stones. It is typically in-built stone masonry, and infrequently in plain concrete. The walls are large and facilitate to contain stability. Gravity walls will be up to 3m (10 feet). within the style of concrete gravity wall, it’s essential to work out the masses needed within the stability and stress analyses that are weight of wall (dead load or helpful force), lateral earth pressure (static and dynamic), surcharge load (live traffic load), earthquake forces (inertia forces) , and seismal load (ground motion excitation).

Semi-Gravity Walls

One reasonably specialized gravity walls are thought as semi-gravity walls. The perform of this kind of walls is to attenuate the breadth of the wall while not requiring large-scale reinforcement. Semi-gravity walls will be manufactured from the gravity and cantilever walls style.  The lateral earth pressure is usually withstood by the mass of the wall, similar to within the case of Gravity Walls. Semi- gravity walls are normally used for earth holding structure and bridge abutments infill state of affairs. they will even be employed in a cut state of affairs, except for such Associate in the Nursing application, a brief network is usually needed.

Cantilever Walls

Cantilever walls are created of concrete. The structure consists of vertical stem, and a base block created from two distinct regions, viz., a heel block, and a toe block. “Stem” acts as a vertical cantilever underneath the lateral earth pressure. Heel slab” acts as a horizontal cantilever underneath the action of the burden of the preserved earth (minus soil pressure acting upwards from below). “Toe slab” acts as a cantilever underneath the action of ensuring soil pressure acting upward. Cantilever holding walls utilize the burden of the soil to carry down a little (foundation or pile) and therefore the stiffness of the affiliation to accomplish a cantilever off the wall. it’s the foremost common form of holding structure and is usually economical for heights up to regarding 8m. It resists the horizontal earth pressure furthermore as different vertical pressure by means of bending of varied parts acting as cantilevers. Perhaps L formed or T formed. Cantilever holding walls are found best up to a height of 6m. For larger heights earth pressure because of preserved fill are going to be higher because of lever arm result, higher moments are created at the bottom, that ends up in the next section for stability style furthermore as structural style.  The walls will be formed during an industrial plant or shaped on the website.

Counterfort Retaining walls

It is kind of like Cantilever holding walls except they need skinny vertical concrete webs at regular intervals on the backside of the wall. The counter-forts subdivide the vertical block (stem) into rectangular panels and support them on 2 sides (suspender-style), and themselves behave basically as vertical cantilever beams of T- section and ranging depth. Stem and Heel block are reinforced by providing counter-forts at some appropriate intervals. The soundness of the wall is maintained by the burden of the world on the heel block and the self-weight of the structure. For giant heights, during a cantilever wall, the bending moments developed within the stem, heel slab, and toe block becomes terribly massive and needs massive thickness.

The bending moments will be considerably reduced by introducing thwartwise supports, referred to as counter-forts. Counter-fort wall is placed at regular intervals of about1/3 to ½ of the wall height, interconnecting the stem with the heel block. The counter-forts square measure hid among the maintained earth on the rear aspect of the wall. This wall is economical for heights higher than (approximately) 7m. This type of walls will be formed or shaped on site.

Sheet Piles

Piling is earth retention and excavation support technique that retains soil, victimization sheet sections with interlocking edges. Pile acts as a temporary certificatory wall that been driven into a slope or excavation to support the soft soils collapse from higher ground to lower ground. It provides high resistance to driving stresses and helps to lightweight. Sheet piles will be reused on many comes and .long service life above or below water with modest protection. Simple to adapt the pile length by either attachment or bolting and joints square measure less apt to deform throughout driving.

Usually, sheet piles have two basic types; such as-

• Cantilever sheet pile- Cantilevered sheet piles square measure typically used for the peak of concerning 6m or but dredge line. Cantilever embedded retentive structures square measure specifically used for shielding permanent and temporary excavations, for road constructions, and sanitation of landslides.
• Anchored pile- Anchoring the pile causes less penetration depth and fewer moment to the sheet pile. Anchored walls square measure continually prestressed that basically removes the slacks from the system. The anchor can maintain their load through the excavation sequence unless creep happens. The anchors conjointly place the whole soil mass between the anchors and shut in compression, so making a very giant gravity well.

Several styles of sheet piles square measure unremarkably employed in construction:

• Wood sheet piles – Wooden sheet piles square measure the oldest construction materials used for temporary light structures to forestall cave-ins. All woods degrade overtimes, particularly once exposed to water and warmth, wherever plant and bugs accelerate decomposition. Wood piling continues to be used today; but, the wood is either absolutely encapsulated, or treated chemically like chrome, aluminum, or steel plating.
• Formed concrete sheet piles- Precast concrete sheet piles square measure a lot of aesthetics however square measure serious and manufacture giant disturbance throughout driving. Concrete sheet piles square measure primarily used as bulkheads in either contemporary or saltwater.
• Steel piles- The steel sheet pile alternative is that the most well-liked because of its strength ease of handling and easy construction. Steel sheet piles square measure on the market in varied cross-sectional shapes. they’ll have issues with corrosion that can be prevented by coating. Their thickness is concerning ten to 13mm
• Aluminum sheet piles- Aluminum sheet piles have cross-sections just like those of steel. it is made victimization 6061 alloys, and sometimes anodized, painted, or visible applications. Aluminum is 100% reusable, durable, and immune to corrosion from the air, water, extreme temperature, and chemicals, however, is dearer than different sorts.

Miscellaneous retaining Walls

These square measure different styles of retaining walls. Such as-

Diaphragm walls – Diaphragm wall may be a continuous wall constructed within the ground to facilitate bound construction activities, such as:

• a wall
• a cut-off provision to support deep excavation
• the final wall for basement or different underground structure (e.g. tunnel and shaft)
• a separating structure between major underground facilities
• -a kind of foundation (barrette pile – rectangular pile)

Pile walls (secant piles, tangent piles) – These walls square measure shaped by the intersection of individual concrete piles. These piles square measure designed by victimization lubricator and augering. The secant piles overlap by concerning three inches. Another is that the tangent pile walls, wherever the piles do not have any overlap. These piles square measure made flush with one another. The important advantage of secant and tangent walls is that the exaggerated alignment flexibility. The walls conjointly might have exaggerated stiffness, and therefore the construction method is a smaller amount abuzz. Among the disadvantages square measure that waterproofing is troublesome to get at the joints, their higher price, which vertical tolerances square measure arduous to attain for the deeper piles.

Berliner walls (soldier pile) – This kind of wall was proverbial to Roman military engineers and was used for deep excavations. It is a comparatively cheap system, simple and quick to construct. it is primarily restricted to temporary construction, and can’t be employed in high formation conditions while not in-depth dewatering and expense. it is not as stiff as different styles of retentive walls.

Gabion Walls– Gabions square measure multi-celled, welded wire or rectangular wire mesh boxes, that square measure then; rocks crammed, and used for the development of abrasion management structures and stabilize steep slopes. Their applications embody,

•  Retaining walls,
• Bridge abutments,
• Wing walls,
• waste pipe headwalls,
• Outlet aprons,
• Shore and beach protection walls, and
• Temporary check dams

Soil nailing walls- Soil nailing may be a technique will not reinforce and strengthen existing ground. It consists of putting in closely spaced bars into a slope or excavation as construction income from the highest down. Soil nailing is an efficient and economical methodology of constructing a wall for excavation support, support of hill cuts, bridge abutments, and high ways in which. This method is effective in cohesive soil, broken rock, sedimentary rock or fixed face conditions. This kind of walls to Stabilization of railroad and road cut slopes and excavation retentive structures in urban areas for high-rise building and underground facilities. It is conjointly useful in tunnel portals in steep and unstable stratified slopes. The development and retrofitting of bridge abutments with advanced boundaries involving wall support underneath heaped-up foundations. Soil Nailing through existing concrete or masonry structures like failing retaining walls and bridge abutments to supply long-run stability while not demolition and make prices. Styles of Soil Nailing-

• Driven Nails
• Grouted Nails
• Corrosion Protected Nails
• Jet grouted Nails
• Launched Nails

Crib walls– Individual boxes, made from pre-cast concrete or timber, are interlocked together to create a unit which is called crib wall. The boxes area unit then stuffed with crushed stone or alternative coarse granular materials to create a free exhausting structure. Usually, two basic styles of crib wall are found:

• Timber
• Bolstered pre-cast concrete

REFERENCE TAKEN FROM CIVILTODAY.COM

Veneered Walls

With a veneered wall, we are holding up the material. It can be made of brick or stone. The most famous veneered wall is made of brick. The wall is only one wythe thick. It became the norm when building codes began to require insulation in the interior walls. It is light weighted. The construction takes less time to complete in veneered walls.

Panel Walls

It is a non-bearing wall between columns or pillars that are supported. The panel is installed with both nails and adhesive. The paneling design choices include rustic, boards, frame. Paneling can be from hardwoods or inexpensive pine. One should paint the space before installing panel walls.

Partition Walls

It is used in separating spaces from buildings. It can be solid, constructed from brick or stone. It is a framed construction. The partition wall is secured to the floor, ceiling, and walls. It is enough strong to carry its own load. It resists impact. It is stable and strong to support wall fixtures. Partition wall works like a sound barrier and it is fire resistant.

Shear Walls

It is a framed wall. It is designed to resist lateral forces. This lateral force comes from exterior walls, floor, and roofs to ground foundation. The usage of the shear wall is important, especially in large and high-rise buildings. It is Typically constructed from materials like concrete or masonry. It has an excellent structural system to resist earthquake. It provides stiffness in the direction. The construction and implementation are easy in shear walls. It is located symmetrically to reduce ill effects of a twist. Shear wall doesn’t exhibit any stability problem.

Cavity Walls

The cavity wall consists of two separate wythes. The wythes are made of masonry. Those two walls are known as internal leaf and external leaf. This wall is also known as a hollow wall. They reduce their weights on the foundation. They act as good as sound insulation. Cavity wall gives better thermal insulation than any other solid wall because space is full of air and reduces heat transmission. They have a heat flow rate that is 50 percent that of a solid wall. It is economically cheaper than other solid walls. It is fire resistant. Cavity wall helps to keep out from noise.

Advantages of Cavity Wall

Followings are the advantages of Cavity Wall:

• Cavity walls reduce their weights on the FOUNDATION .
• They act as good as sound insulation.
• Cavity wall gives better thermal insulation than any other solid wall because space is full of air and reduces heat transmission.
• They have a heat flow rate that is 50 percent that of a solid wall
• Cavity Wall is economically cheaper than other solid walls.
• Cavity  wall is fire resistant.
• Cavity wall helps to keep out from noise.

Types of Walls

• Load Bearing Walls

  Load-bearing wall is a structural element. It carries the weight of a house from the roof and upper floors, all the way to the foundation. It supports structural members like beams(sturdy pieces of wood or metal), slab and walls on above floors above. A wall directly above the beam is called load bearing wall. It is designed to carry the vertical load. In another way, if a wall doesn’t have any walls, posts or other supports directly above it, it is more likely to be a load-bearing wall. Load bearing walls also carry their own weight. This wall is typically over one another on each floor. Load bearing walls can be used as interior or exterior wall. This kind of wall will often be perpendicular to floor joists or ridge. Concrete is an ideal material to support these loads. The beams go directly into the concrete foundation. Load bearing walls inside the house tend to run the same direction as the ridge.

  • Precast Concrete Wall
  • Retaining Wall
  • Masonary wall
  • Pre Panelized Load Bearing Metal Stud Walls
  • Engineering Brick Wall
  • Stone Wall
• Non-Load Bearing Wall

  A wall which doesn’t help the structure to stand up and holds up only itself is known as a non-load bearing wall. It doesn’t support floor roof loads above. It is a framed structure. Most of the time, They are interior walls whose purpose is to divide the structure into rooms. They are built lighter. One can remove any non-load bearing walls without endangering the safety of the building. Non-load bearing walls can be identified by the joists and rafters. They are not responsible for gravitational support for the property. It is cost effective. This wall is referred to as “curtain wall”.

  • Hollow Concrete Block
  • Facade Bricks
  • Hollow Bricks
  • Brick Walls
• Cavity walls
• Shear Walls
• Partition Walls
• Panel Walls
• Veneered Walls
• Faced Walls

REFERENCE TAKEN FROM CIVILTODAY.COM

Wall:-

Wall is a structure defining an exact area and providing safety & shelter. There are various types of walls used in the construction of buildings given below.

Types of Walls

• Load Bearing Walls
  • Precast Concrete Wall
  • Retaining Wall
  • Masonary wall
  • Pre Panelized Load Bearing Metal Stud Walls
  • Engineering Brick Wall
  • Stone Wall
• Non-Load Bearing Wall
  • Hollow Concrete Block
  • Facade Bricks
  • Hollow Bricks
  • Brick Walls
• Cavity walls
• Shear Walls
• Partition Walls
• Panel Walls
• Veneered Walls
• Faced Walls

REFERENCE TAKEN FROM CIVILTODAY.COM

Mortar:- 

Mortar is a bonding agent which is generally produced by mixing cementing or binding material (lime or cement) and fine aggregate (sand , surki, sawdut, etc.) with water. Mortar is used to bind different building blocks like Brick stones, etc. It can also add a decorative pattern in brick or stone masonry. Mortar is being used since the dawn of civilization. 2000 years ago, the Egyptians used lime mortars.

1. Types of Mortar
2. Properties o good Mortar
3. The Functions of Sand in Mortar
4. Uses of Mortar
5. Precautions Required while using Mortar Mix
6. Lightweight Mortar

PROPERTIES OF GOOD MORTAR

It is always desirable to use the best mortar in constructions. Therefore, the properties of a good mortar must be investigated. Generally, good mortar possesses following properties-

• The main quality that mortar should possess is adhesion. Good mortar should provide good adhesion to building units (bricks, Stones etc).
• Mortar should be water resistant. It should have the capability of resisting the penetration of water.
• Deformability of mortar should be low.
• Mortar should be cheap.
• Mortar should be easily workable in the site condition.
• The mobility of mortar should be good. It helps the mortar to be paved thinly and evenly.
• It should possess high durability.
• To improve the speed of construction, good mortar should set quickly.
• Cracks should not be developed in the joint formed by mortar. It is desirable to last for long period of time without losing the appearance.

PROPERTIES OF GOOD MORTAR

Followings are the functions of sand as one of the ingredients of mortar.

• Generally, sand is not used in the mortar to increase its strength. Rather it is mainly used as an inert material to increase the volume of mortar for the economy.
• Using sand in the right amount can produce cheap mortar without hampering mortar strength.
• Sand subdivides the paste of cementing materials into a thin film which is the basic principle involved in using all cementing materials.
• Sand offers the requisite surface area for the film of cementing materials to adhere and to spread.
• Sand helps to prevent mortar shrinkage. It also prevents cracking of mortar during setting.
• Well-graded sand increases the density of mortar.
• Sand allows Carbon-Di-oxide from the atmosphere to reach to some depth in case of ft lime mortars and thereby improves their setting capability.
• It is also claimed that some chemical reaction takes place between silica (SiO₂) of sand grains and the constituents of the cementing materials to form a hardened mass.

USES OF MORTAR

Mortar, a bonding agent between building materials, is mainly a mixture of water, fine aggregate (sand, surki, etc) and binding material like cement, lime etc. The applications of mortar in various construction phase have made it a very important civil engineering material.

Some of the numerous functions of mortar in construction are given below.

1. Mortar is used to bind together the bricks or stones in brickor stone masonry.
2. It is used to give a soft even bed between different layers of brick or stone masonry for equal distribution of pressure over the bed.
3. It is used to fill up the spaces between bricks or stones for making walls tight.
4. It is used in concrete as a matrix.
5. It is used in plastering works to hide the joints and to improve appearance.
6. It is used for molding and ornamental purpose.

TYPES OF MORTAR

Mortar is produced by mixing a binding material (cement or lime) with fine aggregate (sand, surki, etc) with water. For construction purpose, different types of mortar are used. Depending upon the materials used for mortar mixture preparation, the mortar could be classified as follows.

1. Cement Mortar
2. Lime Mortar
3. Surki Mortar
4. Gauged Mortar
5. Mud Mortar

Cement Mortar

Cement mortar is a type of mortar where cement is used as binding material and sand is used as fine aggregate. Depending upon the desired strength, the cement to the sand proportion of cement mortar varies from 1:2 to 1:6.

Lime Mortar

Lime mortar is a type of mortar where lime (fat lime or hydraulic lime) is used as binding material and sand is used as fine aggregate. The lime to the sand proportion of cement mortar is kept 1:2. The pyramids at Giza are plastered with lime mortar.

Gauged Mortar

Gauged mortar is a type of mortar where cement and lime both are used as binding material and sand is used as fine aggregate. Basically, it is a lime mortar where cement is added to gain higher strength. The process is known as gauging. The cement to the lime proportion varies from 1:6 to 1:9. Gauged mortar is economical than cement concrete and also possess higher strength than lime mortar.

Surki Mortar

Surki mortar is a type of mortar where lime is used as binding material and surki is used as fine aggregate. Surki mortar is economic.

Mud Mortar

Mud mortar is a type of mortar where mud is used as binding material and sawdust, rice husk or cow-dung is used as fine aggregate. Mud mortar is useful where lime or cement is not available.

tags: mortar types, mortar mix, mortar cement, mortar for brick, mixture of sand and cement, cement masonry, mortar types for brick, brick mortar types, mortar ratio for brick masonry, masonry mortar types.

Fir

Fir is one of the world’s best-known timber species. It is a premier building product for a wide range of applications. It is a softwood species. Fir has a very straight grain. Fir has become the standard woods of choice for timber framing. Fir timber is used tin-housing, framing, flooring, lining fascias, bargeboards, and pergolas.

Advantages of Fir

•  Fir timber ranges in color.
• Fir machines and turns well.
• Fir is moderately durable.
• It is permeable.
• It Is moderately resistant to decay.
• Fir timber has a low shock resistance.
• It has a good strength.
• Fir can be satisfactorily bonded using the standard procedure.

Disadvantages of Fir

• Fir timber lacks tensile strength.
• It is extremely difficult to treat.
• Fir timber is very stiff.