There are numerous kinds of structures built for various purposes. Being a civil engineer Reddy Kancharla is very well versed in some of those structures, one among which is the earth retaining structures. To put it in the simplest way, these are constructed with the purpose of providing resistance to the pressure created by the soil whenever there is a change in the level of elevation and it crosses the soil’s angle of repose.
Basement walls, retaining walls, and bulkheads are all examples of earth retaining structures. In order to be able to build these structures, the one thing that needs to be very clear is the understanding of the lateral forces that act between the soil that is retained and the structure itself. To ensure that the retained soil does not resume its natural soil a retaining wall is made.
The classification of the retained walls is based on the stability they produce. They are namely gravity walls, reinforced earth, anchored wall, and cantilever wall. The roadworks mostly use the reinforced earth structure. A gravity wall is made of concrete in such a way that it holds itself with the help of gravity and does not fall. Some examples of gravity walls would include Gabion walls, RC walls, masonry walls, crib walls, and counterfort walls.
A cantilever wall has footings that help to balance the asymmetrical load. One type of cantilever wall is the counterfort retaining wall. This has buttresses or counterforts that help to resist the lateral pressure of the earth a little more.
Anchored walls as the name suggests, have some anchors in the reinforced concrete that it is made of, to ensure safety, and the capacity to bear loads as certainly to make it structurally stable. These are mostly used in combination with cantilever walls, sheet piles, tangent walls, or piled retaining walls. Whenever civil engineers such as Reddy Kancharla, working on the site realize that the load on the structure is more than usual, they decide to include these walls in the construction.
The basic units that can be found in a retaining structure are the facing unit, the reinforcement, and the earth fill.
The function of the facing unit is to prevent soil erosion between the reinforcements as it also adds to the appearance of the structure. The reinforcements are the fasteners for the facing unit and it extends into the backfill. These may be rods or strips made of metal. Geotextile sheets, geogrids or chain link fences or even wire grids.
Thus, it is evident that the construction of a structure involves a whole lot of things to be considered and arranged before the civil engineers can begin the main construction work. The back-end tasks play an equally important role in the process of constructing a building. It is therefore only wise to seek geotechnical consultation from experienced and proficient people such as Reddy Kancharla. His qualificational background as a civil engineer is what gives me the added advantage of having profound knowledge in the subject.