The Development of Retaining Wall

In modern times, retaining walls are widely used in various civil and construction projects, especially in highways, railways, tunnels, water conservancy, revetment projects, and soil and water conservation projects. It can also be said that it has developed and changed rapidly with the development of modern industry, construction, transportation, municipal administration, water conservancy, mining, and environmental protection projects.

 

History of The Development of Retaining Walls

Gravity retaining walls are the oldest form of retaining structure. It is still one of the most widely used retaining structures because of its abundant material sources, convenient material acquisition, simple form, and easy construction. In order to meet the requirements of foundation bearing capacity and terrain conditions, semi-gravity and balance weight retaining walls have been developed on the basis of gravity retaining walls. The semi-gravity retaining wall can reduce the stress of the foundation and reduce the requirements for the bearing capacity of the foundation; the balance weight retaining walls is suitable for large sections of the ground.

 

In 1965, Planiers in the French Pyrenees built the world's first reinforced earth retaining wall. After its success, this support technique soon became popular in Europe. Then Canada, Japan, the United States and so on successively applied.

 

Before the 1950s, anchor-pile support technology was only used as a temporary measure in the construction process. After the mid-1950s, western countries began to use small permanent grouting anchors and shotcrete instead of lining structures in tunnel engineering. After the 1960s, anchor-pile support developed rapidly and was widely used in many fields of civil engineering. As a light retaining structure, the anchored retaining wall has replaced the bulky gravity retaining wall and is widely used in retaining projects such as roads, railways, coal mines support and water conservancy.

 

Typically, soil nails are a commonly used support material for existing retaining wall reinforcement projects. However, in the face of loose geological conditions and easy hole-collapse, ordinary steel bars will be slightly weak as soil nails. The self-drilling anchor bolt combines the functions of drilling, grouting and anchoring together. When it is used as a soil nail for construction, it can well solve the problem of hole-collapse. The advantage of self-drilling anchor bolt supporting is that it has less disturbance to the original soil mass with the characters of practical, safe and economical.

The Future Development Trend of Retaining Wall

While researching and developing new structural forms, the development and application of new materials and new techniques are also new trends in the development of retaining walls.

In recent years, with the development of social economy, the improvement of people's living standards and the emphasis on environmental protection, engineers and technicians have begun to study the coordination of retaining walls with the surrounding landscape, and developed ecological retaining walls. It not only satisfies the use function of the retaining wall, but also coordinates with the surrounding environment, and carries out green cultivation on the wall.