Engineering Professional Programs

Course Faculty: Robert Kimmerling

Many transportation design projects include retaining walls. When presented with this situation, the design professional, especially those with limited exposure to structural engineering principles, may be uncertain if it is a project that can be dealt with by the transportation design team, or if structural engineering consultants should be called in. This course will provide participants with updated information so they can better determine location requirements and design parameters for retaining walls. Criteria for determining structural engineer involvement will also be covered.

Through case histories and visual aids, this course presents the wide variety of retaining walls systems that are employed by transportation engineers. The process of selecting retaining wall types is presented and applied in example situations.

Participant exercises will include practical applications where retaining walls need to be laid out and selected using the guidance and design tools provided

Course Topics

Site data requirements and acquisition

Advantages and limitations of the various systems

Proprietary and non-proprietary systems and their applications

Layout and design criteria

Roles and responsibilities in the retaining wall selection and design process

Constructability issues

Cost analysis

Implementing systems into plans and specifications

Who Should Attend

This course will be of most benefit to civil engineers working as design team members or leaders on transportation projects. Entry-level geotechnical and structural engineers will also benefit from the course.

Continuing Education Units and Professional Development Hours

Course participants will earn 0.7 CEUs/7 PDHs upon successful completion of this course. The CEU is a nationally recognized measure of participation in a noncredit continuing education program that meets established criteria for increasing knowledge and competency.