Study on active earth pressure of rigid retaining wall under the action of displacement-seepage-soil arching

Abstract

Active water earth pressure on rigid retaining wall is closely related to the soil anisotropic seepage and the soil arching induced by principal stress rotation affected by wall displacement mode. But there is no analytic method to calculate the active water earth pressure under the coactions of soil arching and anisotropic seepage. In this study, the calculation method of the active earth pressure and water-earth pressure of the rigid retaining wall was established under the joint action of displacement-seepage-soil arching based on the horizontal differential element method. Subsequently, calculation results of the proposed method were compared and analyzed with the existing calculation results of active water-earth pressure. The comparison results showed that the calculated results are in good agreement with the measured results. Under the action of displacement mode, the active earth pressure of non-translational rigid retaining wall is distributed in a parabola, and its nonlinear distribution is further enhanced under the soil arching action. The seepage increases the active earth pressure of the rigid retaining wall and weakens the nonlinear distribution of active earth pressure of non-translational rigid retaining wall. This research provides a reference for the development of active earth pressure theory of rigid retaining wall.