Effect of Footing Shape on Behavior of Cantilever Retaining Wall

Abstract

Reinforced concrete cantilever retaining walls bearing on soil usually have a shear key incorporated into their footing base. The intended function of the key is to increase the sliding resistance of the wall. A study of the efficiency of shear keys and their location on the footing (toe, stem, or heel) was performed. A finite element model of a 20-ft-high (6-m) wall bearing on sand was used, and the results indicated that the presence of a shear key or sloped-footing bottom did not significantly improve performance over a simple flat-bottom footing. The reason is believed to be that actually measured soil-concrete shear parameters were used in the analysis, while more conservative shear parameters are used in routine design.