Design of Retaining Wall Calculation in Excel Spreadsheet

Designing a retaining wall involves several calculations including soil properties, wall geometry, loads, and stability checks. While I can't provide an Excel spreadsheet directly here, I can guide you through creating one yourself. Here's a basic outline of what your spreadsheet could include:

Input Section:

·         Soil properties (e.g., unit weight, friction angle, cohesion)

·         Wall geometry (e.g., height, length, thickness)

·         Load information (e.g., surcharge, live load)

 

Calculations Section:

·         Calculate the active and passive earth pressures using appropriate methods like Rankine's theory or Coulomb's theory.

·         Calculate the resultant forces acting on the wall including surcharge, live load, and the weight of the wall itself.

·         Determine the overturning moment and the resisting moment.

·         Check the stability of the wall by comparing the overturning moment to the resisting moment.

 

Output Section:

·         Display the calculated values including forces, moments, and stability check results.

·         Optionally, you could include graphical representations of the retaining wall and the forces acting on it.

 

Sensitivity Analysis:

·         Allow for variations in input parameters to observe how they affect the stability and design of the retaining wall.

Here's a simplified example of how you might structure your Excel spreadsheet:

Input Parameters	Value
Soil Unit Weight (γ)	120 lb/ft³
Friction Angle (φ)	30°
Cohesion (c)	100 psf
Wall Height (H)	10 ft
Wall Length (L)	30 ft
Wall Thickness (t)	1 ft
Surcharge Load (q)	50 psf
Live Load (w)	20 psf

Then, you'd have columns for intermediate calculations and results, like active and passive earth pressure calculations, resultant forces, overturning moment, resisting moment, and stability check.

Download Excel Spreadsheet: Retaining wall design calculator

More Design Files: Footing Design in Excel

For each calculation, you'd use Excel formulas. For example, to calculate active earth pressure, you might use the formula for Rankine's earth pressure:

Where Ka is the coefficient of active earth pressure, calculated based on the friction angle.

Similarly, you'd have formulas for other calculations and results.

Remember to use appropriate units and formulas specific to the methods you're employing for design and analysis. Additionally, you might want to add error checking and validation to ensure the input parameters are within reasonable ranges.