What Are Retaining Walls?
Retaining walls are solid wall structures that maintain soil laterally, allowing them to retain the ground surface at differing elevations on either side of the building.
If a retaining wall is not present, the soil at a higher elevation will begin to erode until it reaches its natural, stable shape.
Therefore, the held soil exerts a force on the retaining wall because it is retained at a steeper slope than its shear strength can support. As shown in the following section, numerous types of retaining walls are used to preserve soil safely.