Retaining Wall systems are typically designed using Limit State Design assuming active and passive earth pressures are developed to achieve stability, however the mobilisation of these earth pressures may well require substantial wall displacements. As Geotechnical Design is typically governed by allowable displacements rather than collapse, techniques which can predict wall and soil displacements prior to ultimate collapse can allow more efficient performance-based design to be carried out.

In this lecture the development of a performance-based design methodology for propped and cantilever retaining walls will be developed, utilising centrifuge model testing to investigate the mobilisation of strain and earth pressure within the soil surrounding the wall with displacement of rigid wall sections. The relationships developed from these centrifuge tests can then be superposed to predict the equilibrium deflections of flexible retaining walls both with and without props. The performance of the design method will finally be validated by comparison with field and centrifuge case histories in both sand and clay.

Stuart Haigh is a Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at Cambridge University and Assistant Director of the Schofield Centre for Construction Process Modelling with wide-ranging interests in both physical and numerical modelling. The majority of his research is based on use of Geotechnical Centrifuges to study problems under both dynamic and static conditions. Stuart’s work includes research on fundamental soil behaviour, specifically the Atterberg Limits of clays, soil dynamics including Earthquake-induced Liquefaction and Mobilisable Strength Design of Earth-retaining structures. Stuart was a member of the Geotechnique Advisory Panel from 2012-16 and is author of over 70 Journal Papers together with books on both Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering.