Abstract
Based on the Coulomb's theory that the earth pressure against the back of a retaining wall is due to the thrust exerted by the sliding wedge of soil from the back of the wall to a plane which passes through the bottom edge of the wall and has an inclination equal to the angle of τ, the theoretical answers to the unit earth pressure, the resultant earth pressure and the point of application of the resultant earth pressure on a retaining wall were obtained for the wall movement mode of rotation about top. The comparisons were made among the formula presented here, the formula for the wall movement mode of translation, the Coulomb's formula and some experimental observations. It is demonstrated that the magnitudes of the resultant earth pressures for the wall movement mode of rotation about top is equal to that determined by the formula for the wall movement mode of translation and the Coulomb's theory. But the distribution of the earth pressure and the points of application of the resultant earth pressures have significant difference.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
LIU Cheng, Evett Jack B.Soil and Foundations [M]. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc, 1998.
Rankine W J M. On the stability of loose earth [J].Phil Trans Roy Soc, Lond, 1857,147 (1): 9–27.
CHEN Wan-jia.Mechanics of Granular Structures [M]. Beijing: People's Communication Publishing House, 1983. (in Chinese)
Fang Y S, Ishibashi I. Static earth pressures with various wall movements [J].Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE, 1986,112(3):317–333.
Tsinker G P.Handbook of Port and Harbor Engineering-Geotechnical and Structural Aspects [M]. New York: Chapman & Hall, I (T) P International Thomson Publishing, 1997.
WANG Yuan-zhan. Distribution of earth pressure on a retaining wall [J].Geotechnique, 2000,50 (1):83–88.
WANG Yuan-zhan, LI Wei, HUANG Chang-hong. Distribution of active earth pressure with wall movement of rotation about base [J].Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 2003,25 (2): 208–211.
Tianjin University.Soil Mechanics and Foundation [M]. Beijing: People's Communication Publishing House, 1980. (in Chinese)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by Chen Zheng-han
Foundation item: the National Natural Science Foundation of China (5027027); the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (973606311)
Biography: Wang Yuan-zhan (1958 ∼), Professor, Doctor
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yuan-zhan, W., Zhao-ping, T. & Bin, Z. Distribution of active earth pressure of retaining wall with wall movement of rotation about top. Appl Math Mech 25, 761–767 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02437567
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02437567