Static and seismic active lateral earth pressure coefficients for c-ϕ soils

Abstract

In this paper, the active lateral earth pressure is evaluated using the stress characteristics or slip line method. The lateral earth pressure is expressed as the lateral earth pressure coefficients due to the surcharge, the unit weight and cohesion of the backfill soil. Seismic horizontal and vertical pseudo-static coefficients are used to consider the seismic effects. The equilibrium equations along the characteristics lines are solved by the finite difference method. The slope of the ground surface, the wall angle and the adhesion and friction angle of the soil-wall interface are also considered in the analysis. A computer code is provided for the analysis. The code is capable of solving the characteristics network, determining active lateral earth pressure distribution and calculating active lateral earth pressure coefficients. Closed-form solutions are provided for the lateral earth pressure coefficients due to the surcharge and cohesion. The results of this study have a good agreement with other reported results. The effects of the geometry of the retaining wall, the soil and soil-wall interface parameters are evaluated. Non-dimensional graphs are presented for the active lateral earth pressure coefficients.