Determination of passive earth pressure coefficients by the method of triangular slices

2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 485-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Da-Yong Zhu ◽  
Qihu Qian

A new procedure is proposed for determination of passive earth pressure coefficients using triangular slices within the framework of the limit equilibrium method. The potential sliding mass is subdivided into a series of triangular slices, rather than vertical slices as usual, with inclinations of the slice bases to be determined. The forces between two adjacent slices (interslice forces) are expressed in terms of interslice force coefficients, and recursive equations for solving interslice coefficients are derived. By using the principle of optimality, the critical inclinations of slice bases, minimum interslice force coefficients, and passive earth pressure coefficients are determined. A form of function for describing the distribution of interslice force inclination (interslice force function) is suggested and the scaling parameter contained in the function is determined by satisfying the moment equilibrium condition for the final sliding mass. Comparisons are made with other accepted methods and tables for passive earth pressure coefficients are presented for practical use.Key words: passive earth pressure coefficient, retaining walls, limit equilibrium method, the principle of optimality.

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 1241-1254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mrunal A. Patki ◽  
J.N. Mandal ◽  
D.M. Dewaikar

A numerical method is developed to evaluate the passive earth pressure coefficients for an inclined rigid retaining wall resting against a horizontal cohesionless backfill. A composite failure surface comprises a log spiral, and its tangent is assumed in the present study. The unique failure surface is identified based on the limit equilibrium approach coupled with the Kötter equation (published in 1903). Force equilibrium conditions are used to evaluate the magnitude of the passive thrust, whereas the moment equilibrium condition is employed to determine the location of the passive thrust. The distinctive feature of the present study is that no assumption is required to be made regarding the point of application of the passive thrust, which would otherwise be an essential criterion with respect to the several limit equilibrium based investigations available in the literature. The passive earth pressure coefficients, Kpγ, are evaluated for various values of soil frictional angle [Formula: see text], wall frictional angle δ, and wall inclination angle λ, and compared with the existing results.


2001 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 876-881 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jyant Kumar

By taking the failure surface as a combination of the arc of a logarithmic spiral and a straight line, passive earth pressure coefficients in the presence of horizontal pseudostatic earthquake body forces have been computed for an inclined wall placed against cohesionless backfill material. The presence of seismic forces induces a considerable reduction in the passive earth resistance. The reduction increases with an increase in the magnitude of the earthquake acceleration. The effect becomes more predominant for loose sands. The obtained results compared well with those reported in the literature using curved failure surfaces. However, the results available in the literature on the basis of a planar failure surface are found to predict comparatively higher passive resistance.Key words: earth pressures, earthquakes, limit equilibrium, plasticity, retaining walls, sands.


1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest E. Morrison Jr. ◽  
Robert M. Ebeling

Few solution techniques exist for the determination of pseudostatic dynamic passive earth pressures for cohesionless soils. The widely accepted Mononobe–Okabe equation can result in the computing of unconservative values if the wall interface friction angle is greater than half the soil internal friction angle. As an alternate solution, equilibrium equations were formulated assuming a log spiral failure surface, and a research computer program was written to calculate the dynamic passive earth pressure coefficient. The primary purpose of this paper is to present a comparison of results obtained using the Mononobe–Okabe equation with those obtained using the log spiral formulation. Key words : pseudostatic, dynamic, passive earth pressure.


2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 971-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepankar Choudhury ◽  
K S. Subba Rao

In the presence of pseudo-static seismic forces, passive earth pressure coefficients behind retaining walls were generated using the limit equilibrium method of analysis for the negative wall friction angle case (i.e., the wall moves upwards relative to the backfill) with logarithmic spirals as rupture surfaces. Individual density, surcharge, and cohesion components were computed to obtain the total minimum seismic passive resistance in soils by adding together the individual minimum components. The effect of variation in wall batter angle, ground slope, wall friction angle, soil friction angle, and horizontal and vertical seismic accelerations on seismic passive earth pressures are considered in the analysis. The seismic passive earth pressure coefficients are found to be highly sensitive to the seismic acceleration coefficients both in the horizontal and the vertical directions. The results are presented in graphical and tabular formats.Key words: seismic passive resistance, limit equilibrium, pseudo-static.


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