Gravity Retaining walls are designed to resist earth pressure by their weight. They are constructed of the mass, concrete, brick or stone masonry. Since these materials can not resist appreciable tension, the design aims at preventing tension in the wall. The wall must be safe against sliding and overturning. Also the maximum pressure exerted on the foundation soil should exceed the safe bearing capacity of the soil.

So before the actual design, the soil parameters that influence the earth pressure and the bearing capacity of the soil must be evaluated. These include the unit weight of the soil, the angle of the shearing resistance, the cohesion intercept and the angle of wall friction. Knowing these parameters, the lateral earth pressure and bearing capacity of the soil determined.