Cantilevered Retaining Walls

Cantilevered walls are a type of retaining walls that are used for resisting soil steep slopes. They are named with cantilevered because they are
constructed in such a fashion that the wall behaves as cantilever beam. Cantilever walls or stem walls or reinforced concrete walls are the commonest type or retaining wall

They are composed of a vertical or inclined slab placed with a slab base. Simple forms ofcantilever walls utilize the weight of the earth or backfill on the heel. This weight is added to the concrete to provide resistance against active thrust

The base of the stem should be large enough to resist the shear without any reinforcement. Some times for more stability and strength to the wall, we use "Buttresses" which are short wing walls at right angles to the main trend of the wall. This type of wall uses much less material than a traditional gravity wall

Before constructing this wall, a lot of calculations are made to ensure the safety of the wall. These calculations such as lateral earth pressure, bearing capacity, normal weight of the soil and also must be checked for overturning, sliding and uplifting