A general method to calculate passive earth pressure on rigid retaining wall for all displacement modes

A general analytical method to calculate the passive rigid retaining wall pressure was deduced considering all displacement modes. First, the general displacement mode function was setup, then the hypotheses were made that the lateral passive pressure is linear to the corresponding horizontal displacement and the soil behind retaining wall is composed of a set of springs and ideal rigid plasticity body, the general analytical method was proposed to calculate the passive rigid retaining wall pressure based on Coulomb theory. The analytical results show that the resultant forces of the passive earth pressure are equal to those of Coulomb＇s theory, but the distribution of the passive pressure and the position of the resultant force depend on the passive displacement mode parameter, and the former is a parabolic function of the soil depth. The analytical results are also in good agreement with the experimental ones.

A modified logarithmic spiral method for determining passive earth pressure

In this study, a modified logarithmic spiral method is proposed to determine the passive earth pressure and failure surface of cohesionless sloping backfill, with presence of wallesoil interface friction. The proposed method is based on a limit equilibrium analysis wherein the assumed profile of the backfill failure surface is a composite of logarithmic spiral and its tangent. If the wallesoil interface is smooth, a straight line does not need to be assumed for the failure surface. The geometry of the failure surface is determined using the Mohr circle analysis of the soil. The resultant passive earth thrust is computed considering equilibrium of moments. The passive earth pressure coefficients are calculated with varied values of soil internal friction angle and cohesion, wall friction angle and inclination angle, and sloping backfill angle. This method is verified with the finite element method(FEM) by comparing the horizontal passive earth pressure and failure surface. The results agree well with other solutions, particularly with those obtained by the FEM. The implementation of the present method is efficient. The logarithmic spiral theory is rigorous and self-explanatory for the geotechnical engineer.

Limit state analysis of rigid retaining structures against seismically induced passive failure in heterogeneous soils

Soils are not necessarily uniform and may present linearly varied or layered characteristics,for example the backfilled soils behind rigid retaining walls.In the presence of large lateral thrust imposed by arch bridge,passive soil failure is possible.A reliable prediction of passive earth pressure for the design of such wall is challenging in complicated soil strata,when adopting the conventional limit analysis method.In order to overcome the challenge for generating a kinematically admissible velocity field and a statically allowable stress field,finite element method is incorporated into limit analysis,forming finiteelement upper-bound(FEUB)and finite-element lower-bound(FELB)methods.Pseudo-static,original and modified pseudo-dynamic approaches are adopted to represent seismic acceleration inputs.After generating feasible velocity and stress fields within discretized elements based on specific criteria,FEUB and FELB formulations of seismic passive earth pressure(coefficient K_(P))can be derived from work rate balance equation and stress equilibrium.Resorting to an interior point algorithm,optimal upper and lower bound solutions are obtained.The proposed FEUB and FELB procedures are well validated by limit equilibrium as well as lower-bound and kinematic analyses.Parametric studies are carried out to investigate the effects of influential factors on seismic K_(P).Notably,true solution of K_(P) is well estimated based on less than 5%difference between FEUB and FELB solutions under such complex scenarios.

Calculation of passive earth pressure of cohesive soil based on Culmann's method

Based on the sliding plane hypothesis of Coulumb earth pressure theory, a new method for calculation of the passive earth pressure of cohesive soil was constructed with Culmann＇s graphical construction. The influences of the cohesive force, adhesive force, and the fill surface form were considered in this method. In order to obtain the passive earth pressure and sliding plane angle, a program based on the sliding surface assumption was developed with the VB.NET programming language. The calculated results from this method were basically the same as those from the Rankine theory and Coulumb theory formulas. This method is conceptually clear, and the corresponding formulas given in this paper are simple and convenient for application when the fill surface form is complex.