Experimental Study of the Influence of Height on Arch Masonry Earth Retaining Walls

Recently, a novel experiment explored the possibility of employing low-rise arch masonry walls to resist earth pressure. The introduction of this innovative system aims to mitigate the “snap-through” failure characteristic inherent in conventional planar retaining walls. The authors established that the idea could work but did not study the influence of any of the parameters involved. To begin to overcome this limitation, four masonry arch walls were constructed using half-scale concrete blocks and modular cored bricks. The test walls had a span of 2 m and two different heights, 1 and 2 m. The arches had an equivalent span-to-rise ratio of 0.17. The walls were built on a concrete base, and the arches were cemented to the base with a mortar joint. The arches were subjected to soil pressure and surcharge load: displacements and strains were measured. The walls effectively exhibited arch action under soil pressure, with deflections of less than 1 mm. The brick wall showcased a notable arching phenomenon, exhibiting a slightly rigid reaction in contrast to the hollow block wall. The walls demonstrated a marginal rise in radial deflection corresponding to increasing elevation.