Passive Earth Pressure on the Retaining Wall of Limited-width Backfill Based on Curvilinearly Layered

Abstract

This study presents a new method to calculate the passive earth pressure on the rigid retaining wall of non-cohesive limited-width backfill. The proposed method considers the non-cohesive backfill behind the wall as the research object. It was assumed that under the translational mode of the retaining wall, the fracture surface was the plane passing through the heel of the wall and that the principal stress trajectory of the backfill was arc-shaped. The backfill was divided into several arc thin-layer elements by layering along the principal stress trajectory. The non-uniformity of stress distribution on the upper and lower surfaces of the elements was considered. The proposed method was validated with the data obtained from the model tests found in the literature. The results showed that compared with the common horizontal element layering method, the arc thin-layer element method can accurately consider the complex stress acting on the element and better reflect the variation law of the passive earth pressure on the retaining wall. The passive earth pressure of limited-width backfill presented a non-linear distribution along the height of the wall and increased with an increase in soil depth. With an increase in the aspect ratio of soil or a decrease in the internal friction angle, the resultant force of the passive earth pressure gradually decreased while the height of the action point of the resultant force gradually increased. When calculating the passive earth pressure on the retaining wall of limited-width backfill, the critical aspect ratio of limited-width to semi-infinite width was 3.