Gravity Walls are retaining walls that utilize a rigid structure to support soils and aggregates laterally. Gravity walls are typically built of masonry, brick, concrete blocks, cast-in-place concrete, or in situ materials. These hard-wearing structures rely on their large weight to resist toppling and sliding caused by the lateral earth pressure from the soil behind them.
When on site material is readily available and the most cost effective option, gravity walls become an ideal candidate for grade separation applications. Gravity walls can be supported by geosynthetics to enhance their long term performance. For small scale applications where geosynthetic reinforcement is unnecessary, gravity walls serve as an excellent option to optimize a project’s budget.