Introduction to Earth Retention Structures

This course will cover the three types of laterally acting earth pressures (at-rest, active, and passive) as they apply to retaining wall design. Additionally, it will cover some basic soil mechanics principles, along with some common field and laboratory soil testing procedures. 

This course will briefly cover the methods used for calculating the factors of safety for sliding, overturning, bearing capacity, and shallow/deep shear failure modes. Lastly, this course will examine a case study of a wall failure situation which includes many of the common pitfalls of wall design, such as the effects of surcharge and hydrostatic loads on a wall, and the importance of preemptive stabilization remediation on aging structures.