DISTRIBUTION OF ACTIVE EARTH PRESSURE OF RETAINING WALL WITH WALL MOVEMENT OF ROTATION ABOUT TOP

Based on the Coulomb's theory that the earth pressure against the back of a retaining wall is due to the thrust exerted by the sliding wedge of soil from the back of the wall to a plane which passes through the bottom edge of the wall and has an inclination equal to the angle of θ, the theoretical answers to the unit earth pressure, the resultant earth pressure and the point of application of the resultant earth pressure on a retaining wall were obtained for the wall movement mode of rotation about top. The comparisons were made among the formula presented here, the formula for the wall movement mode of translation, the Coulomb's formula and some experimental observations. It is demonstrated that the magnitudes of the resultant earth pressures for the wall movement mode of rotation about top is equal to that determined by the formula for the wall movement mode of translation and the Coulomb's theory. But the distribution of the earth pressure and the points of application of the resultant earth pressures have significant difference.

General variational solution for seismic and static active earth pressure on rigid walls considering soil tensile strength cut-off

According to the limit equilibrium state of soils behind rigid walls and the pseudo-static approach,a general closed-form solution to seismic and static active earth pressure on the walls,which considers shear and tension failure of the retained soil,is put forward using a variational calculus method.The application point of the active resultant force specified in the proposed method is explained with a clear physical meaning related to possible movement modes of the walls.In respect of the derived nine dependent equations reflecting the functional characteristics of the earth pressure,the proposed method can be performed easily via an implicit strategy.There are 13 basic factors related to the retained soils,walls,and external loads to be involved in the proposed method.The tension crack segment of the slip surface is obviously influenced by these parameters,apart from vertical seismic coefficient and geometric bounds of the surcharge,but the shear slip segment maintains an approximately planar shape almost uninfluenced by these parameters.Noticeably,the proposed method quantitatively reflects that the resultant of the active earth pressure is always within a limited range under different possible movements of the same wall.

Upper bound solution to seismic active earth pressure of submerged backfill subjected to partial drainage

In waterfront geotechnical engineering,seismic and drainage conditions must be considered in the design of retaining structures.This paper proposes a general analytical method to evaluate the seismic active earth pressure on a retaining wall with backfill subjected to partial steady seepage flow under seismic conditions.The method comprises the following steps:i)determination of the total head,ii)upper bound solution of seismic active earth thrust,and iii)deduction for the earth pressure distribution.The determination of total head h(x,z)relies on the Fourier series expansions,and the expressions of the seismic active earth thrust and pressure are derived by using the upper bound theorem.Parametric studies reveal that insufficient drainage and earthquakes are crucial factors that cause unfavorable earth pressure.The numerical results confirm the validity of the total head distribution.Comparisons indicate that the proposed method is consistent with other relevant existing methods in terms of predicting seismic active earth pressure.The method can be applied to the seismic design of waterfront retaining walls.

Earth Pressure of Retaining Structure Induced by Subgrade under Rainfall

This article selects the retaining wall as the research object, introducing the rainfall infiltration model, considering the infiltration of rainwater into the groundwater recharge, analysizing the variation of earth pressure in the subgrade retaining wall. On this occasion, the back of retaining wall produces stable seepage water and compares with the non drainage water body. The results show that, with the infiltration of rainwater into the groundwater recharge, the greater the active earth pressure under the condition of rainfall appears, more quickly the active earth pressure of the retaining wall with the drainage body increases. The matrix suction of unsaturated soils, which is infiltrated into soil of subgrade, has a positive effect on the shear strength of the earth pressure.