Analytical solution for the active earth pressure of cohesionless soil behind an inclined retaining wall based on the curved thin-layer element method

Abstract

In order to improve the theoretical strictness and expand the applied range of the traditional earth pressure calculation methods, a new analytical solution for the active earth pressure distribution of the cohesionless backfill soil has been established. The curved trajectory of minor principal stress in the backfill is adopted in the proposed analytical solution, which is able to represent the rotation of principal stress resulting from the soil arching effect. The proposed solution is capable of reflecting the effect of the wall back roughness and inclination. The rationality of the proposed solution has been proven by comparisons between the experimental data and other solutions. The solution shows similar active earth pressure distribution with Coulomb solution in the shallow backfill, while better nonlinear results in the deep backfill, which is more consistent with the experimental observations.