Lateral Earth Pressures Acting on Circular Retaining Walls

AbstractThe slip line method has been extended to consider the tangential stress and arbitrary magnitude of wall movement. An analytical solution has also been proposed for the arbitrary mode of wall movement, and the soil mass behind the wall can be homogeneous or layered. The mobilized internal friction angle of the soil and the soil-wall interface friction angle change with the movement of the wall; this has been widely accepted. However, the development of them is not simultaneous. The mobilized friction angles are used in the slip line method and the simplified slip line method to yield the nonlimit lateral earth pressure. Results indicate that earth pressure decreases exponentially with increasing wall movement. Comparisons of the calculated results with measured data and FEM results show that the present analytical method can provide good prediction of the lateral earth pressures and the limit wall movement equal to 0.3%H is appropriate in the calculation (where H is the excavation depth).