Field Study on Earth Pressure of Finite Soil Considering Soil Displacement

Abstract

The classical earth pressure theory assumes a semi-infinite soil behind the wall, which is no longer applicable to the problem of earth pressure in the case of finite soil. A field study was conducted to investigate the earth pressure of finite soil at different excavation depths. The earth pressure cells were used to measure the change in earth pressure along the depth, and the measured earth pressures were compared with the calculation results for finite soil. Moreover, the influence of the width-to-depth ratio, cohesion, and internal friction angle on the earth pressure of finite soil was also analyzed based on the theoretical calculation method. The research results show that compared with the Rankine active earth pressure, the active earth pressure of finite soil was more suitable for the calculation of earth pressure for a finite soil situation. The difference in the earth pressure of finite soil under different width-to-depth ratios would increase with depth, while the cohesion and internal friction angle had little effect on the earth pressure of finite soil.