buttress and counterfort wall

[ketanco]

what is the difference between a counterfort wall vs buttress wall?

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Does it have something to do with trebuchet resistance?

 

[Ble_PE]

If you look at the walls with no backfill they basically look the same, the difference is that counterfort walls have the counterforts buried in the fill, and buttress walls have the counterforts (or buttresses) on the opposite side of the fill. On the pic below the wall would be called a counterfort wall if the soil is backfilled over top of the triangular counterforts and it would be called a buttress wall if it was backfilled on the opposite side.

 

[ketanco]

got it thanks