1.INTRODUCTION - Retaining Walls Are Constructed To Hold Back Ground Which Would Otherwise Move Downwards.

“Introjected Backfil Retaining Walls”™
A bull’s eye technique to substantially reduce the cost of retaining walls

by
Prof. D.R.Phatak
(Inventor and Chief Mentor, StrongGid Technologies, Pune)
Prof. S.S.Sabnis
(Co-inventor and Chief Technology Officer, StrongGid Technologies, Pune)
1.INTRODUCTION: Retaining walls are constructed to hold back ground which would otherwise move downwards.
With the growing need of the infrastructure facilities, the retaining walls serve as a basic facility provider in many civil
engineering projects and have therefore become an indispensable feature in most structures. Retaining walls is one
edifice which is common in all structures such as bridges, highways, roads, divide walls and guide walls of dams and
hydraulic structures, abutments, slopes of nalla, sea fronts, grade separated intersections, river training works and other
locations where earth is required to be retained for erecting the utility. Any saving in the initial cost of the structures like
retaining walls will always help to save some equity.
II. TYPES OF CONVENTIONAL RETAINING WALLS: The most common types of retaining walls practiced are as
follows: i.Gravity ii.RCC Cantilever iii.Counterfort
H H
B
B
Fig 1 Gravity retaining wall Fig.2 RCC Cantilever retaining wall
1. Gravity retaining walls: The Gravity retaining walls are easy to construct as these involve huge amount of
construction material in the form of concrete or stone masonry. The earth retention is done purely by means of the body
weight of the wall and hence these walls are bulky (Fig.1). The base width required is 0.55 to 0.65 times the height for
the wall to become stable.
2. RCC Cantilever retaining walls: The RCC Cantilever retaining walls retain the load of the sliding earth mass
purely by the reinforcement provided in the slender concrete members (Fig.2). These walls are suitable upto about 6 m
height and involve huge amount of closely spaced reinforcing bars. The quantity of reinforcement may vary between 70
to 110 kg/cu.m (1 to 1.2% of concrete quantity) for these walls. The base width required is 0.6 to 0.7 times the
height for the wall to become stable.
3. RCC Counterfort retaining walls: The RCC Cantilever retaining walls are provided with counterforts when the
height exceeds 6 m (Fig.3). The supports in the form of counterforts which facilitate raising the height of the retaining
wall above 6 m but at the cost of more reinforcement and higher grade of concrete. The quantity of reinforcement may
vary between 70 to 110 kg/cu.m ( 1 to 1.3% of concrete quantity). The base width required is 0.6 to 0.7 times the
height for the wall to become stable.
Counterforts
Fig.3 RCC Counterfort retaining wall

III. DRAWBACK OF THE CONVENTIONAL RETAINING WALLS: The major drawback of the commonly used
conventional retaining walls is that they consume lot of resources and require great space to accommodate them.
IV. ROLE OF CIVIL ENGINEER’S WHILE USING THE CONVENTIONAL RETAINING WALLS: It is seen that
the site engineers have an inherent characteristic to make some economy while using the conventional retaining walls
on the site. The economy is achieved on the site by means of the following methods, which are more useful in the case
of Gravity walls:
1. Use of stone masonry instead of concrete
2. Use of plums or greater MAS to make concrete
3. Change of the geometry of the walls
These methods of achieving economy results in a limited economy of 2 to 3 % and involve greater supervision and
maintenance. Stone masonry is suitable only upto a height of 3 to 4 m as the wall demands more space. The
maintenance of the stone masonry wall may also go up in a span of 5 to 6 years. The local people are also tempted to
remove the stones from the constructed masonry wall for other uses. The use of plums and greater mean aggregate
size to make concrete results in limited economy but at the same time the mix design of concrete has to be affirmed for
its effectiveness. The method of change of geometry of walls results in cluster of calculations which are to checked and
re-checked for accuracy and often involves skepticism of the higher authorities before giving approvals. Often it is seen
that the economy in such cases also does not exceed 3 to 4 %. The million dollar question that crops up in
the mind is “whether any technology or methodology of retaining wall designs is available which
will miraculously change the economics of the project?”
V. “INTROJECTED BACKFIL RETAINING WALLS”: The technology of “Introjected Backfil Retaining walls”
(upgraded version of “Graaviloft Retention Walls”) was invented in the year 2001 by Prof. D.R.Phatak (Retd.
Professor College of Engineering, Pune) along with his student Prof. S.S.Sabnis. The invention is a design innovation,
is under Intellectual property rights (I.P.R’s) and is under successful implementation from 2001 onwards till date. In the
last three years, retaining walls worth INR 100 Crore have been constructed using this technology benefiting many
Government and non-Government organizations.
VI. FEATURES OF THE “INTROJECTED BACKFIL RETAINING WALLS”:

1.Base Width:-The base width of the wall is ½ to 1/3 of the conventional retaining walls. The wall requires
simultaneous backfilling during the construction process of the wall and whereas the bracket integrates the wall with the
backfil soil.
2.Concrete Grade:- The “Introjected Backfil Retaining walls” can be constructed in a concrete grade of M15.
Only if the durability considerations demand a higher grade of concrete then only the grade of concrete needs to be
upgraded for these walls, otherwise a concrete grade of M15 is suitable for the wall. The recently completed project of
wing walls for aqueduct on Banda branch canal, Tilari dam project, Government of Maharashtra involved height of wing
walls about 26 m. The entire construction was accomplished in concrete M15 (See Photograph-1 below).
Photograph-1 26 m high wing walls of Aqueduct at Sawantwadi

3.Reinforcement:- The quantity of reinforcement required in “Introjected Backfil Retaining walls” is
between 8 to 20 kg per cu.m of concrete only.
4.Stability:- The walls are safe both in static and seismic conditions and satisfy the Codal provisions for
stability in both static and seismic conditions. The “Introjected Backfil Retaining walls” are more stable
than conventional retaining walls for the same height. The factors of safety in static conditions and seismic
conditions are nearly double that of conventional retaining walls.
5.The construction of “Introjected Backfil Retaining Walls” is straight and does not require any batter to
any face of the wall. It is the experience of the Inventors that the time required to construct “Introjected Backfil
Retaining Walls” is less than conventional retaining walls of the same height.
6.The technology can be implemented to unlimited heights.
7.No concerns in implementation of the technique:- The material of construction remains the
same as the conventional walls with no special demand for formwork or backfil material. The wall
design fits as per the tender requirements with no special demand for any new item of construction.
The wall design is flexible enough to adopt to the items of the existing tender and hence
successfully implemented in many projects which were incomplete either due to technical reasons
or due to inadequate funds.
8.Base width remains same even after change of height:- It is seen in conventional walls that the
base width changes whenever there is a change in the height of the retaining wall. The construction procedure for
conventional retaining walls becomes clumsy when there is abrupt change in the height of the walls in shorter
distances e.g Wings walls/return walls of bridges. In such cases, the “Introjected Backfil Retaining Walls” maintains
same base width which helps in ease and speedy construction.
9.“Introjected backfil retaining walls in areas of low bearing capacity”:- The wall maintains
uniform pressure distribution. This is explained in Fig. 4
Fig.4 a. Unequal pressure distribution b. Nearly equal pressure distribution

below conventional walls below “Introjected backfil retaining walls”
The adjustment of bracket and its position helps maintain nearly uniform pressure distribution below the “Introjected
backfil retaining walls” and hence these walls are extremely stable in areas of low bearing capacity also.
10. Economy:-The “Introjected Backfil Retaining Walls” give an economy between 20 to 35% over the
conventional retaining walls without scarifying any strength or stability parameters still satisfying the
codal provisions. Interestingly, as the height of retaining walls increases the economy due to “Introjected backfil retaining
walls” also increases. This is for the reason that the increase in the wall section and reinforcement is nearly proportional
to the height of retention in case of conventional retaining walls. This proportionality is not followed by the “Introjected
backfil retaining walls”.
On an average, the conventional retaining walls require a B/H ratio (Base width to height ratio) of about 0.65 and
reinforcement in the range of 70 to 110 kg/cu.m of concrete, whereas for “Introjected backfil retaining walls” the ratio
of B/H is between 0.15 to 0.25 and the requirement of reinforcement is between 10 to 25 kg/cu.m of concrete (i.e
0.2 % of concrete quantity).
11. Bond with the backfill soil:- - There is no separation between the backfill and the wall back because
of the Introjections which are projected inside the backfill soil. The wall and the soil develop a strong bond with
a period of time.
VII. COST ECONOMICS OF THE “INTROJECTED BACKFIL RETAINING WALLS”:
The graphical representation in Fig.5 below shows the variation of cost between “Introjected backfil retaining walls”
and conventional retaining walls.
145 %
135 %
130 % 125 % 120 %
100 %
“Introjected Cantilever Counterfort Gravity R.E UCR masonry

Backfil wall wall wall wall Retaining wall
Retaining
Walls” Fig. 5
VIII. ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE TECHNOLOGY EVOLVED: The Government of Maharashtra has issued circular
to make use of these walls. The Water Resources Department of Maharashtra and the Maharashtra State P.W.D have
extensively used this technology to save equity along with private players like Suzlon energy, Mahindra and Mahindra,
Mercedes-Benz India Ltd. in their SEZ’s and saved equity.Till date the “Introjected backfil
retaining walls” have been founded in nearly all types of strata.
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“Introjected Backfil Retaining Walls”™

A bull’s eye technique to substantially reduce the cost of retaining walls

Fig.3 RCC Counterfort retaining wall

VI. FEATURES OF THE “INTROJECTED BACKFIL RETAINING WALLS”:

Photograph-1 26 m high wing walls of Aqueduct at Sawantwadi

Fig.4 a. Unequal pressure distribution b. Nearly equal pressure distribution

“Introjected Cantilever Counterfort Gravity R.E UCR masonry

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