A Computational Method of Active Earth Pressure from Finite Soil Body

Nowadays, Coulomb and Rankine earth pressure theories have been widely applied to solve the earth pressure on a retaining structure. However, both of the theories established on the basis of the semi-infinite space assumption are not suitable for calculating the earth pressure from finite soil body. Therefore, this paper focuses on a theoretical study about the active earth pressure from finite soil body. Firstly, a common calculation model of finite soil body is established according to the results of previous studies. And then, based on Coulomb’s theory and the wedge element method, an analytical solution of the unit active earth pressure from finite soil body is deduced without an assumption of its linear distribution in advance. Meanwhile, formulas of the active earth pressure strength coefficient and the application point of the resultant force are also deduced. Finally, the influence of parameters such as the frictional angle between the retaining wall back and backfill, slope angle of backfill, dip angle of the retaining wall back, the frictional angle between backfill and rock slope, and uniformly applied load on the backfill surface on the distribution of the unit active earth pressure and the application point of the resultant force is analyzed in detail.