Slip-Line Solution to Earth Pressure of Narrow Backfill against Retaining Walls on Yielding Foundations
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 22, Issue 5
Abstract
When a retaining wall is adjacent to a natural slope, the overturning of the wall is usually caused by a yielding foundation. At the point of overturning, the narrow backfill behind the wall has reached the active limit state. However, in previous studies, the foundation conditions of the retaining wall were not fully considered when the earth pressure on the retaining wall with the narrow backfill was calculated. To comprehensively consider the stress state of the retaining wall, the finite-element limit analysis method was employed to study the failure mode of a retaining wall adjacent to a natural slope. The simulation results indicate that the sliding surface starts from the wall heel, with one side developing at the surface of the natural slope and the other developing in the ground in front of the wall. Based on this failure mechanism, a slip-line computational model for the retaining wall was established. When the slip-line solution was compared with the finite-element solution, the results were in good agreement. The plastic zone of the soil was determined by the slip-line field. In addition, the slip-line solution gave the active earth pressure of the narrow backfill, the passive earth pressure of the soil in front of the wall, and the foundation bearing capacity. Moreover, several extensive parametric studies were conducted. Thus, the shape of the narrow backfill, the rough soil–wall interface, and the low-strength backfill are all conducive to reducing active earth pressure on a retaining wall.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- B0
- width of wall top (m);
- B1
- width of wall base (m);
- B2
- width of backfill bottom (m);
- c
- cohesion (kPa);
- D
- buried depth of foundation D (m);
- Eur,ref
- Young’s modulus in unloading/reloading at reference pressure pref (MPa);
- E50,ref
- Secant Young’s modulus in triaxial compression under confining pressure (MPa);
- H
- height of the retaining wall (mm);
- K0
- coefficient of earth pressure at rest;
- m
- fitting parameter;
- Pref
- reference pressure (kPa);
- q
- uniform load on the backfill surface (kPa);
- R
- reduction coefficient of soil–wall interface;
- u
- frictional coefficient of wall base;
- ux
- horizontal displacement of the base (m);
- uy
- vertical displacement of the base (m);
- vur,ref
- Poisson’s ratio in unloading/reloading at reference pressure pref;
- x
- coordinate of the X-axis;
- z
- coordinate of the Z-axis;
- α
- angle between the axis and the vertical line (°);
- γdry
- dry weight of the unit (kN/m3);
- ɛ
- natural slope inclined angle (°);
- θ
- angle between the major stress and the horizontal line (°);
- λ
- angle between the major stress and the X-axis (°);
- μ
- angle between the shear plane and the major stress (°);
- σ
- average normal reference stress (kPa);
- σx
- stress on the X-axis plane (kPa);
- σz
- stress on the Z-axis plane (kPa);
- σ1
- major principal stress (kPa);
- σ3
- minor principal stress (kPa);
- φ
- internal friction angle (°); and
- ψ
- dilation angle (°).
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 22 • Issue 5 • May 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 31, 2021
Accepted: Dec 20, 2021
Published online: Mar 7, 2022
Published in print: May 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Aug 7, 2022
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