• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.191-199
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• 2003

It is known that the distribution of the active earth pressure against a rigid wall is not triangular, but nonlinear, due to arching effects in the backfill. In the farmer paper, a new formulation was proposed for the nonlinear distribution of active earth pressure on a translating rigid retaining wall considering arching effects. In this paper, parametric study is performed to investigate the effect of ${\phi}, {\delta}$ and wall height on the magnitude and distribution of active earth pressure calculated from the proposed equations. In order to check the accuracy of the proposed formulation, the predictions from the equation are compared with both existing full-scale test results and values from existing equations. The comparisons between calculated and measured values show that the proposed equations satisfactorily predict both the earth pressure distribution and the lateral active earth force on the translating wall. Simplified design charts are also proposed for the modified active earth pressure coefficient and fur the height of application of the lateral active force in order to facilitate the use of the proposed equation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.193-203
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• 2004

Arching effects in backfill materials generate a nonlinear active earth pressure distribution on a rigid retaining wall with rough face, and arching effects on the shape of the nonlinear earth pressure distribution depends on the mode of wall movement. Therefore, the practical shape of failure surface and arching effect in the backfill changed with the mode of wall movement must be considered to calculate accurate magnitude and distribution of active earth pressure on the rigid wall. In this study, a new formulation for calculating the active earth pressure on a rough rigid retaining wall rotating about the base is proposed by considering the shape of nonlinear failure surface and arching effects in the backfill. In order to avoid mathematical complexities in the calculation of active earth pressure, the imaginary failure surface composed of four linear surfaces is used instead of the nonlinear failure surface as failure surface of backfills. The comparisons between predictions from the proposed equations and existing model test results show that the proposed equations produce satisfactory predictions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.523-540
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• 2015

Based on limit equilibrium principles, this study presents a theoretical derivation of a new analytical formulation for estimating magnitude and lateral earth pressure distribution on a retaining wall subjected to seismic loads. The proposed solution accounts for failure wedge inclination, unit weight and friction angle of backfill soil, wall roughness, and horizontal and vertical seismic ground accelerations. The current analysis predicts a nonlinear lateral earth pressure variation along the wall with and without seismic loads. A parametric study is conducted to examine the influence of various parameters on lateral earth pressure distribution. Findings reveal that lateral earth pressure increases with the increase of horizontal ground acceleration while it decreases with the increase of vertical ground acceleration. Compared to classical theory, the position of resultant lateral earth force is located at a higher distance from wall base which in turn has a direct impact on wall stability and economy. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the computations of lateral earth pressure distribution based on the suggested analytical method.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.181-189
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• 2003

The active earth pressure against a rigid retaining wall has been generally calculated using either Rankine's or Coulomb's formulation. Both assume that the distribution of active earth pressure exerted against the wall is triangular. However, many experimental results show that the distribution of the active earth pressure on a rigid rough wall is nonlinear. These results do not agree with the assumption used in both Rankine's and Coulomb's theories. The nonlinearity of the active earth pressure distribution results from arching effects in the backfill. Several researchers have attempted to estimate the active earth pressure on a rigid retaining wall, considering arching effect in the backfill. Their equations, however, have some limitations. In this paper, a new formulation for calculating the active earth pressure on a rough rigid retaining wall undergoing horizontal translation is proposed. It takes into account the arching effects that occur in the backfill.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.443-450
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• 2002

It is known that the distribution of the active earth pressure against a translating rigid wall is not triangular, but nonlinear, due to arching effects in the backfill. In the present paper, a new formulation for calculating the active earth pressure on a rigid retaining wall undergoing horizontal translation is proposed. It takes into account the arching effects that occur in the backfill. In order to check the accuracy of the proposed formulation, the predictions from the equation are compared with both existing full-scale test results and values from existing equations. The comparisons between calculated and measured values show that the proposed equations satisfactorily predict both the earth pressure distribution and the total active earth force on the translating wall.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.909-935
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• 2014

The seismic characteristics of two semi-gravity reinforced concrete cantilever retaining walls are examined via an experimental program using an outdoor shake table (one with and the other without concrete masonry sound wall on top). Both walls are backfilled with compacted soil and supported on flexible foundation in a steel soil container. The primary damages during both tests are associated with significant lateral displacements of the wall caused by lateral earth pressure; however, no collapse occurs during the tests. The pressure distribution behind the walls has a nonlinear trend and conventional methods such as Mononobe-Okabe are insufficient for accurate pressure estimation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.25-36
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• 2011

The behavior of the dry-stone masonry retaining structure has been investigated via physical model test and numerical simulation. In the model test, the digital image analysis using PIV technique was employed to measure horizontal displacements in the backfill soils and retaining blocks. For finite element numerical analyses, the commercial code, ABAQUS, was used. The horizontal displacements observed in the model test showed that the development of the failure surface is progressive. Numerical results showed that in most cases horizontal earth pressure is distributed similarly to a conventional Rankine’s distribution. However, lower values of the internal friction angle of the backfill soils and interface friction angle in the front blocks produce irregularly nonlinear distribution of the horizontal earth pressure.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.135-148
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• 1997

Coulomb's theory has been usually used in practice to obtain lateral earth pressure against retaining wall. Such theory is based in the assumption that the lateral pressure is a tai angular distribution, since the point of applying the lateral thrust cannot be obtained by using it. However, the results of laboratory and field tests showed that the lateral pressure was not a triangular but a nonlinear distribution. To overcome the drawback of the Coulomb's theory, the different theoretical approaches(Handy, 1985. Kingsley, 1989 : Kellogg, 1993, Chung et at,1993, 1996a) were performed for gravity wall backfilled by cohesionless soil. On the other hand, for retaining wall backfilled by ,cohesive soil, theoretical analyses were carried out only on the basis of the Rankine's or Coulomb's concepts, but the equations showed different results. Here was newly derived the equations of lateral pressures under undrained condition against gravity wall backfilled by cohesive soil. They were based on the Coulomb's wedge, adopted the arching concept. Some of the equations were derived by neglecting tension crack, while the others by considering it. Comparative results for applying different examples showed that the equation considering tension crack might be reasonable.