Determination of Passive Earth Pressure Coefficients for a Sloping Cohesive Backfill under Uniform Surcharge Loading
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 21, Issue 6
Abstract
Compared to the Rankine and Coulomb passive earth pressure theories, the logarithmic spiral theory considers curved failure surfaces, which is its greatest advantage. To improve the logarithmic spiral theory further, a new numerical method coupled with the Rankine and Coulomb theories was proposed and applied to determine the passive earth pressure coefficient of a sloping cohesive backfill under uniform surcharge loading. The method could yield either convex or concave failure surfaces, and the shape of the concave failure surface was assumed to be a logarithmic spiral. The Rankine and Coulomb theories were employed to determine the failure surface shape and distinguish convex and concave failure surfaces, respectively. Furthermore, approximate passive earth pressure coefficient equations for coefficients Kpγ, Kpq, and Kpc were proposed that consider the coupling effect of the soil weight, vertical surcharge loading, and cohesion. The predictions with the proposed method were compared to those reported by other authors.
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Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. N2001015). The first and second authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the China Scholarship Council (CSC Nos. 201906085065 and 201906085021, respectively).
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International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 21 • Issue 6 • June 2021
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 17, 2020
Accepted: Jan 11, 2021
Published online: Mar 24, 2021
Published in print: Jun 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Aug 24, 2021
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