Introduction

A retaining wall is a structure used to retain earth or other materials and to maintain ground surface at different elevations on either side of it. Retaining walls are used to retain earth or other materials which have the tendency to slide and repose at a particular inclination. They provide lateral support to the backfill, embankment or in order to hold them in a vertical position. The material retained or supported by a retaining wall is called backfill, which may have its top surface horizontal or inclined. The portion of the backfill lying above the horizontal plane at the elevation of the top of the wall is called the surcharge and the inclination of the horizontal is called surcharge angle.

Ontology Model

The .owl file for the ontology can be found here.

What is the purpose?

This model represents the abstraction of retaining walls.

Who are the intended users?

The intended users are the designers and engineers, who are responsible for designing and planning retaining walls.

What is the intended use?

This Ontology can be used as a Knowledge base for the basic conceptual design of a Retaining wall. Since a vast amount of knowledge and time is required to prepare an extensive Ontology, only basic concepts have been listed in this one. This Ontology can however be developed further by refining and adding more data.

Image 1 Structure of the Retaining Wall Ontology [Own Image]

Parametric Model

The .dyn file for the parametric model can be found here.

In general, parametric modeling is a history-based modeling method that enables design automation and creates product platforms for a product family, which are suitable for a product design strategy that is aimed to be family-based or platform-driven. From: e Design, 2015 [2]

Feng Fu [3] stated in his paper that Parametric modeling is a modeling process with the ability to change the shape of model geometry as soon as the dimension value is modified. Parametric modeling is implemented through the design computer programming code such as a script to define the dimension and the shape of the model. The model can be visualized in 3D draughting programs to resemble the attributes of the real behavior of the original project. It is quite common that a parametric model uses feature-based, modeling tools to manipulate the attributes of the model.

The following parameters were decided to control the retaining wall model:

Length of the wall, width of the wall and height of the wall.

Image 2 Dynamo Class Structure

With the increase in the length of the retaining wall, the structure becomes unstable because the structure is cantilever structure, due to which its bending moment increases and it can cause the failure of the retaining wall.

References

[1] Dr. R.P. Rethaliya and Bhavin from Atul Prakashan India.
[2] Kuang-Hua Chang, 2015, Chapter-3 Solid Modelling, E-Design.
[3] Feng Fu, 2017, Design and Analysis of Complex Structures.