huangyhg

traditional heel on the retaining wall's footing
i have a 10' (12" conc. blk.) retaining wall and i need to know how i should design the direction of the heel on this wall? ... i mean, the heel should be toward the slope or the steep? what is the common & best way to design that and where i can get more information?
thanks in advance.
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the heel of a retaining wall footing is typically longer than the toe and is placed under the slope or higher side of the wall. however in order to avoid disturbing adjacent structures i have made the heel very short and the toe very very long (not the most efficent way to design a retaining wall but better than undermining your neighbor's house). you may also need a keyway below the footing to assure the wall doesn't slide down hill. that said, you really need to hire a well qualified engineer to do the design work to asure your wall will not tilt or slide over the long haul.
thanks for reply,
then how do they build the heel under the slope?! are they going to remove the soil, build the wall and foundation and fill it back with the soil ?!
like in this case, are they going to dig the slope in about 10' deep by 6' width (to create the footing), build the wall and refill it?! ...
yes. dig out the earth, construct the retaining wall (with heel) and backfill.
yes, you have to excavate and it must be shored, sloped or stepped back in a safe manner to prevent soil collapse.
as an addendum to 4wilmar, there are a number of ways of building a retaining wall each has its own advantages and disadvantages as well as cost differences.
an experienced structural/civil engineer will be able to give the most economic solution for the given constraints.
is this retaining wall going to be butt up againts a house? the soil engineer should give you active and at rest pressure. use at rest pressure (usually larger) if its going to be butt up agiants a house. use active pressure if its purely only a retaining wall. now i suggest using an excel spread sheet so u can change your sizes easily. figure out the over turning moment (refer your concrete book).
anyway, this is just a start. there is more stuff involved with this. you need to figure out the soil pressure on the toe (has to be less than what the soil eng. gave u). then you need to figure out whether the soil on the toe can resist the wall from sliding (use passive pressure on the toe, very large number, around 200pcf. most of the time a key is not necessary). then of course you need to figure out the rebars. go trough your concrete design text book. you should find an example.

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