Active earth pressure calculation for layered fill

layered fill;  retaining walls;  active earth pressure;  Resultant action point

Assuming that the slip fracture surface is a polyline through the wall heel, the horizontal layer analysis method is generalized to the calculation of earth pressure of the retaining wall filled with layered soil, which reasonably explains the nonlinear characteristics of the active earth pressure distribution when the wall back is not smooth. In the translation mode, the horizontal layer analysis method can obtain the active earth pressure resultant force that is basically the same as Coulomb’s theory, but the overturning moment obtained is greater than the result obtained according to Coulomb theory, and the resultant force point is significantly higher than the result of Coulomb theory, which indicates that Coulomb theory overestimates the overturning stability of retaining walls in translation mode. In addition, the theoretical analysis shows that the upper and lower hard filling scheme behind the wall is better than the upper hard and soft bottom filling scheme.