Seawall case studies and failure analysis of sloped concrete walls under static and dynamic loads

Abstract

ABSTRACTConcrete seawalls are structures in coastal facilities for shore and slope protections. Owing to several advantages of sloped or inclined walls such as minimum soil disturbance and less required earthworks, they can be considered as an appropriate alternative to vertical cantilever retaining walls. The combination of slab and strip semideep foundation instead of heel–toe slab foundations increases their capability for stability, erosion control, and storm wave energy dissipation. In this paper, three case studies from seawalls in which failure has occurred are presented and discussed. Technical performance of sloped walls against different internal and external instability factors is investigated, and comparisons are made between vertical and sloped (inclined) walls with respect to geotechnical and structural aspects through parametric study. Analysis indicates that the sloped retaining walls perform better from technical, practical, and economical standpoints. It was found that for identical static and dynamic loads, including earthquake and wave loads, inclined walls provide relatively higher safety factors against different criteria and exhibit more stable and practical performance compared with commonly used walls in practice. The case studies in this paper illustrate causes of failure in each case and gives suggestions for improving instability prevention of walls against static and dynamic loads.