Concrete Retaining Walls

Perhaps you know that the retaining walls are one of the most important elements within a building. So it should not be a surprise to anybody that they should always be made out of strong material which will make the retaining walls strong themselves and will provide them with stability also. But what is the strongest material which you have heard of? Come on, it is an easy question. There is no doubt that it is the concrete which makes it logical that 99% of the retaining walls are actually: concrete retaining walls.

Anyway you also know that there are dozens kinds of concrete and choosing the right one could turn out to be different. What is the most important in the cast is being aware of how a material’s strength is measure. Most of you probably do not know that happens by measuring the compressive strength of the material. The method itself is called: compressive strength test. The results appear in kilograms per square centimeter. For example, the compressive strength of the concrete could vary between 1700 kilograms per square centimeter and 2500 kilograms per square centimeter, depending on the type of concrete.

As you have probably noticed the difference between the lowest acceptable strength and the highest one is quite significant- around 30%. You have probably come up with the idea that the different strengths are needed for different usages of concrete. And what kind of strength do you think is needed for building the so called concrete retaining walls? Of course, that would be the highest one!

Using reinforced concrete is the best way to guarantee that the retaining wall will be stable, steady and strong. It will also be much less likely to collapse during earthquakes or tsunamis. So it should not be surprising that the concrete retaining walls have become a necessity for buildings in most of the countries in Asia. As you know some of the Asian countries such as Japan for example encounter with at least 5-10 heavy earthquakes per year.

Basically, that was most of the information which you should be aware of when it comes to concrete retaining walls. However, you should also keep in mind that using the concrete with highest compression strength could not always be the best choice. That is because it depends on the weight which the retaining wall will have to withstand. If it will not withstand that much, choosing the reinforced concrete could be unnecessary.

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