Retaining Wall Calculator

Rankine active earth pressure, sliding and overturning safety factors, live as you type. Offline, no login. $4.99 once, no subscription.

Sizing a retaining wall and need to know whether it slides or overturns? Pick a soil type and a wall type, enter the wall dimensions, and read the lateral pressure and both safety factors off one screen. Everything updates as you type.

WHAT YOU ENTER:

• Wall height, thickness, and length
• Soil type: Sandy, Clay, Silty Clay, or Gravel
• Wall type: Gravity Concrete, Cantilever, or Segmental Block
• Surcharge load from anything sitting on the backfill
• Depth to the water table

WHAT IT CALCULATES:

Soil Properties (from the soil type you pick):

• Unit weight and friction angle, shown so you can see what is driving the number
• Ka, the Rankine active earth pressure coefficient

Lateral Earth Pressure:

• Ka
• Active pressure at the base of the wall
• Total active force, per foot of wall
• Surcharge force, per foot
• Total lateral force, per foot

Stability Analysis:

• Overturning moment, per foot
• Factor of safety against sliding, flagged green at 1.5 or better
• Factor of safety against overturning, flagged green at 2.0 or better

Foundation Recommendations:

• A starting footing width and depth for the wall type you chose

READ THIS BEFORE YOU RELY ON IT:

This is a fast preliminary check, not a design and not a substitute for your EOR's stamp.

• Unit weight and friction angle come from the soil type you pick. They are typical book values shown on screen — you cannot type in a measured gamma or phi from a soils report.
• Footing width and depth are a rule-of-thumb starting ratio for the wall type, not a solved minimum. The app does not iterate a footing to hit a target safety factor.
• Rankine active pressure only. No passive resistance credit, no bearing-capacity check, no global stability, no seismic.
• Imperial units only (ft, pcf, psf, lbs/ft).

KEY FEATURES:

• One screen, live results, no calculate button
• Colour-flagged safety factors so a failing wall is obvious at a glance
• The calculator works completely offline. No account, no login, nothing you type leaves your device
• $4.99 once. No subscription, no in-app purchases

The app also includes a More Pro Tools card linking to our other apps on the App Store. Nothing in the calculator needs it, and nothing needs a connection.

Built for civil engineers, geotechnical engineers, and concrete contractors who want the first-pass number in seconds and know when to check it.