Why Retaining Walls Collapse

This is why corrupt politicians should not be allowed to build roads. Politicians are more interested in lining their pockets than building good structures.

Thank you for an excellent video again.
If there could also be links to relevant standards and formulas, that would make the videos even more fantastic.

Hey it’s my job 😀

Is humongous hammer the technical term? I hope so.

It is never a good thing to see your home town featured on "Practical Engineering" As of 1/2024 project still no where near complete.

if you control the water your ok .. easy

I'm guessing it was a combination of pressure and gravity.

Always know Jesus Christ is lord amen God bless

Today's graduates on engineering. Likely get freepasses
My city appears to have a flunky engineer on office.

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👌👌

Inocuous parts of the constructed environment🔥

There is a sloped on ramp right near my house, how dare you call it a waste of space! 😢 lol

Oops it gonna be another 4 years behind

During my commute, I see miles of 20-foot tall retaining walls being built along I-635 in eastern DFW. Now I understand some of the construction.

There are also kingpost walls and diaphragm walls.

I had no need for any of the information, yet I am hooked . Thank you for your videos and channel ✌️

Organized crime!

Engineers are lacking in the common sense most engineering is in a office far from the jobsite. Its easy to push buttons on a computer

Watching this video belatedly, I really loved it. As a retired Chartered Engineer in the UK I have long lamented our lack of communication skills with Joe Public to show how/why we are doing what we are doing.
Minor technical comment: water in the soil not only adds to the loading of the retaining wall but actually reduces the inherent strength of the soil mass due to the particles "floating" and not interacting/binding with each other as well as in the dry.

Keep up the good work, Grady.

That type of design on the retaining wall was first seen in PA along I-78
I remember seeing it for the first time in the 1980s and I was impressed with the design.

Realy practical, thank you for your videos!

Great video thank you

me: speakers not working. also me: slams table and speakers works again

what about inverted T RC walls

Presently building an MSE wall for a high use freeway overpass to offramp. Thanks for the vid! It has added depth to my daily struggle of assembling facing and setting inclusions. 👍
I'd love to see more indepth vids on MSE structures. Thank you!

There's a historical retaining wall in my region that was made from drystone, and it's obvious it's not a cosmetic facing from the wild variety of concrete patching, chickenwire nets, and what looks like amateur attempts at soil nails. Í was never comfortable walking alongside it.

Because construction is bottom of the totem pole. The world would rather promote ignorance and laziness be a tuber make videos be a clown entertain. Then you cry when construction fails. Engineers and architects have never spent time in the field they only know what a book and computer says they have no knowledge of how things work. It's like letting doctors never get training in the field just letting them test out to be surgeons. You get what you provide and a very high bill when we come to do work at your house😊.

Bad engineering, a synonym for American engineering.

Really enjoyed this one. Thank you! I wonder about your thoughts on marine (or aquatic?) retaining walls? Caissons and all that. Widening/Extending NYC’s FDR Drive into the East River, for example. Or the Øresund Bridge?

What a fascinating world we live in‽ I respect that along your journey, you take your time to help others understand it better. Chapeaux!

Today I found out I'm a slope (i.e. waste of space).

Piles for everything!

If it was backfilled with crushed rock theare whuld be a lot less force involved

The ancient romans built retaining walls that are still standing today. They also built roads and bridges that are still standing today too. 2000 years ago. Maybe we aren’t as advanced as we think?

I MUST see Practical Engineering x 99% Invisible. So much innocuous infrastructure.

Roman retaining walls were much better. Huge sections of uncut stone.

A sign from earth that more highways won't solve the traffic issues.

Some of the best and oldest standing retaining walls are was steeper then you could achieve with modern engineering and tech. Just a few example right of the top of my head are the Mga Hagdan-Hagdang Palayan ng Kordilyera ng Pilipinas, or the terraces in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. The world is covered in earth works that have lasted thousands of years... the problem is modern tech, or maybe just lazy cheap crooks.... who knows..

I live in that general area of NJ and that has been under construction of one kind or another since I started college almost 20 years ago!

And now i know the english term for the stuff i used to do. cool.

Cause Union Workers Quality of work, is well at low at best

You have a beautiful family!🙂

I've had this problem in my garden just holding up 2 feet of earth. One possible reason why my walls have fallen down is I have a bit of a habit of stepping over them, but then I have just had a little think and recall the house I was brought up in had retaining walls on the patio. They hold up about 3 1/2 feet of earth and have stayed there perfectly for 50 years. The question is why (same habits). Well the difference is the ones that stayed put had a wavy curve to them. Think about it, as you can see it totally changes the mechanics of it with a little use of a third dimension.

SO BEHIND SCHEDULE somebody GRAFFITIED the construction site...

I've worked on overflows... and yeah. You have to basically build an underground wall and then link everything together to make sure the sloped portion stays in place. Not efficient AT ALL.

I haven't watched the video yet but I'm assuming drainage/soil was the issue.

Some years ago in germany the Autobahn 20 collapsed near Tribsees. The reason, according to an expert report by the Technical University Berlin: they used "Combined soil stabilisation with vertical Columns", which wasn't sufficient for the increased load and lowered groundwater levels. According to journalists the non-public part also describes that the geometry of the construction was different to what was planned - and the measure of horizontal movement was stopped after two of planned six years.
So not a retaining wall, but somewhat similar to the soil stabilisation.