Active Earth Pressure from Unsaturated Soils with Different Water Levels
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 19, Issue 7
Abstract
The problem of active earth pressure has historically been investigated assuming dry or saturated backfills, ignoring the fact that soils are usually unsaturated in nature. This note proposes a kinematic framework for the estimation of active earth pressure induced by unsaturated backfills with different water levels. Several formulas consisting of linear and nonlinear forms are used to represent the apparent cohesion due to matric suction. The seepage effect is included in this analysis with the water level to be located at any depth below the crest of the retained soil masses. The impact of cracks is also considered as part of the failure mechanism. An explicit function of the resultant active earth pressure is derived using the principle of work rate balance. The results show that the magnitude of unsaturated active earth pressure is influenced by the soil properties and wall geometry as well as by the models used to estimate the apparent cohesion due to matric suction.
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Acknowledgments
The research in this work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 51378510 and 51804113). The financial support is gratefully acknowledged.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 19 • Issue 7 • July 2019
Copyright
© 2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 8, 2018
Accepted: Mar 8, 2019
Published online: May 8, 2019
Published in print: Jul 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Oct 8, 2019
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