Abstract
The horizontal differential layer element method was used to study the active earth pressure of the finite-width soil formed by the rigid retaining wall for the embankment or adjacent foundation pits. The cohesionless soil was taken as the research object, and the soil arch theory was introduced based on the translation mode of rigid retaining wall and the linear sliding fracture surface. The minor principal stress line was assumed as circular, considering the deflected principal stress as soil arching effect. The shear stress between level soil layers in the failure wedge was calculated, and the differential level layer method was modified. Then, the theoretical formula of the active earth pressure, the resultant earth pressure, and the point of application of resultant earth pressure were obtained using this revised method. The predictions by the proposed formula were compared with the existing methods combined with the cases. It is shown that the resultant finite pressure increases gradually and approaches to Coulomb active earth pressure values when the soil is infinite, with the increase of the ratios of the backfill width to height. Moreover, the horizontal pressure for limited soils is distributed nonlinearly along the wall height. Considering the shear stress between level soil layers and the soil arching effect, the position of application point of the resultant active earth pressure by the proposed formulation is higher than that of Coulomb’s solution. The wall is rougher, and the resultant pressure will be smaller. The application point distance from the bottom of the wall will increase. Finally, an experiment was conducted to verify the distribution of the active earth pressure for finite soil against rigid retaining wall, and the research results agree well with those of the experimented observations.
Highlights
A large number of high-fill embankment retaining walls or adjacent foundation pit retaining walls have appeared in roads and municipal engineering and urban underground projects, forming a sloping finite-width soil mass
When the soil of this kind of retaining wall works, the sliding rupture surface fails to fully develop to the horizontal plane and the boundary condition and failure mode of the retaining wall are not in accordance with the theoretical calculation conditions of the semi-infinite soil classical earth pressure. erefore, the calculation of the active earth pressure of the finite soil mass in the embankment retaining wall requires a novel method or research based on the mechanism of finite width soil failure
Most research objects focus on the narrow-width soil in adjacent building wall or bedrock, that is, the boundary side of the limited soil is fixed, and the other side of the retaining wall is slightly deformed. e study of active earth pressure on the sloping finite soil behind the retaining wall for the embankment is relatively rare, and there are few related reports and literatures
Summary
A large number of high-fill embankment retaining walls or adjacent foundation pit retaining walls have appeared in roads and municipal engineering and urban underground projects, forming a sloping finite-width soil mass. Advances in Civil Engineering that the retaining wall is vertical and smooth without considering the friction between the back and soil layer of the retaining wall; Fang et al [11] derived the active earth pressure resultant force formula of limited soil under sloping conditions using the limit equilibrium method. It did not study the distribution of finite earth pressure. The engineering characteristics of the finite-width soil of rigid retaining wall under sloping conditions were initially studied, and the cohesionless filler was taken as the research object to solve the limit rupture angle using the overall static equilibrium condition based on the translational failure mode of the retaining wall. en, considering the soil arching effect caused by the friction between the retaining wall and the filling as well as the filling on sliding surface, the soil arching theory of the finite soil in the deformation zone is introduced, and the circular arc trajectories of minor principal stresses after the stress deflection were used to obtain the lateral active earth pressure coefficient and the average shear stress coefficient through Mohr’s stress circle; afterwards, the horizontal microlayering analysis method is used to calculate the horizontal shear stress between the horizontal microlayers and the horizontal microstratification analysis method is corrected, thereby an active earth pressure calculation model was established
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