Retaining Wall

Cantilever wall — active/passive pressure, overturning, sliding, bearing & RC design (IBC 1807).

Stability (overturning/sliding) is checked at service loads; concrete members at factored loads. Soil strength, base friction and q_allow come from the geotechnical report.

Design diagram — updates live with your inputs

Wall Geometry

Stem height (ft) Top of footing to top

Stem thickness (in)

Footing thickness (in)

Toe length (ft) Footing in front of stem

Heel length (ft) Footing behind stem

Soil depth at toe (ft) Depth of soil in front (for passive)

Soil & Loads

Soil unit weight (pcf)

Soil friction angle (deg) Backfill internal phi

Base friction coef. Between footing and soil

Surcharge (psf) On the backfill

Allowable soil bearing (psf)

Include passive resistance Yes Passive pressure in front of the toe

Passive mobilization Reduce (e.g. 0.5) or 0 to neglect — passive needs movement

Concrete & Reinforcement

Concrete f'c (psi)

Reinforcement fy (psi)

Clear cover (in)

Stem bar

Stem bar spacing (in) On center

Footing bar

Footing bar spacing (in) On center

ACI 318-19 / IBC 2021

Validation, assumptions & limitations Download validation report (PDF) ↗

This calculator is verified by 4 independent tests comparing its output against closed-form statics, NDS/SDPWS design-standard values and published worked examples. Full case-by-case results are in the PDF report.

Assumptions

Level granular backfill; Rankine theory; vertical stem back.
Stability at service loads (FS basis); concrete members at factored loads.
Passive pressure included with a mobilisation factor (default 1.0).

Limitations

Soil friction angle, unit weight, base-friction coefficient and allowable bearing are geotechnical INPUTS — confirm with the soils report.
Passive resistance requires wall movement; reduce or neglect it where movement is unacceptable (set the passive factor to 0).
Level backfill, no seismic increment, no water table / hydrostatic load.

Results are for preliminary design and must be confirmed by a licensed engineer against the current adopted code and project-specific conditions.