Beschreibung:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Over the last years, an increase of damages and defects of geotechnical structures has been observed during detailed safety assessments. This is mostly related to the rising age of these structures and the related decrease of the bearing capacity. The handling and dealing with these existing structures will be a challenging task for future civil engineers. This article should give an insight into damages and defects of retaining structures, which are quite difficult to detect and evaluate in terms of safety and risk. The first part of the article gives a short overview on the state of the art when it comes to the safety assessment of existing retaining structures and introduces a new, currently being edited, ÖGG guideline for this field of civil engineering. The second part deals with corrosion‐induced damages on cantilever walls and shows first results of the research project SIBS (safety assessment of existing retaining structures).</jats:p>