Earth Pressure on Retaining Wall with Surface-Inclined Cohesive Fill Based on Principal Stress Rotation

When considering the friction and bonding force between the back of the retaining wall and the horizontal fill behind the wall, the principal stress of the soil element near the vertical back of the retaining wall is no longer vertical and horizontal but deflects to a certain extent. When the surface of the backfill becomes inclined, the principal stress of the soil behind the wall deflects in a more complicated way. In this paper, the cohesion of the soil element in the fill with an inclined surface is assumed, and the formulas for calculating the active and passive earth pressures of the retaining wall with inclined cohesive backfill are derived by rotating the principal stress of the soil element behind the wall. The proposed method is compared with the existing algorithm, and the influences of the inclination and the cohesion of the fill are analyzed. The results show that the proposed method is more universal. Both the active and passive earth pressures increase rapidly with the increase of the inclination of the fill. The active earth pressure and its horizontal component decrease with the increase of the cohesion of the fill, while the passive earth pressure and its horizontal component increase with the increase of the cohesion of the fill.

Influence of Lightweight Foamed Concrete as Backfill Material on Stress and Deformation of Buttressed Earth-Retaining Wall

Controlling settlement and earth pressure behind retaining wall in soft soil area are ongoing practical problems for the construction and operation of highway, which are mainly caused by the poor nature of soft soil. To reduce the pushing force on retaining wall and subgrade settlement, the authors propose the use of lightweight foamed concrete as subgrade filler behind the buttressed earth-retaining wall. However, the mechanical properties and deformation behavior of the buttressed earth-retaining wall remain unknown when lightweight foamed concrete is used as a backfill behind the wall. To solve this problem, a scale model of the subgrade filled with lightweight foamed concrete behind the buttressed earth-retaining wall is established to determine its stress and deformation characteristics under different factors. Lateral earth pressures and wall displacements at different elevations of the retaining wall model were monitored during the tests. Then, a series of orthogonal experiments are conducted to analyse and compare the effects of overload, density, and replacement thickness of lightweight foamed concrete on the earth pressure and displacement of this retaining wall. The results show that the size of earth pressures at the same position of retaining wall is affected by overload, density, and replacement thickness of lightweight foamed concrete, but its change of distribution form is only related to the replacement thickness of this backfill. Additionally, the primary-secondary relations of different factors’ influence extent on the forces and deformation of the buttressed earth-retaining wall filled with lightweight foamed concrete as backfill are obtained by using range analysis method.

Significance of flow rule for the passive earth pressure problem

Determination of earth pressures is one of the fundamental tasks in geotechnical engineering. Although many different methods have been utilized to present passive earth pressure coefficients, the influence of non-associated plasticity on the passive earth pressure problem has not been discussed intensively. In this study, finite-element limit analysis and displacement finite-element analysis are applied for frictional materials. Results are compared with selected data from literature in terms of passive earth pressure coefficients, shape of failure mechanism and robustness of the numerical simulation. The results of this study show that passive earth pressure coefficients determined with an associated flow rule are comparable to the Sokolovski solution. However, comparison with a non-associated flow rule reveals that passive earth pressure coefficients are significantly over predicted when following an associated flow rule. Moreover, this study reveals that computational costs for determination of passive earth pressure are considerably larger following a non-associated flow rule. Additionally, the study shows that numerical instabilities arise and failure surfaces become non-unique. It is shown that this problem may be overcome by applying the approach suggested by Davis (Soil Mech 341–354, 1968).