Arching Effect and Displacement on Theoretical Estimation for Lateral Force Acting on Retaining Wall

Abstract A new approach is proposed to evaluate the non-limit active earth pressure in cohesive-frictional based on the horizontal slices method and limit equilibrium method. This approach takes into account the arching effect, displacement, average shear stress of the soil slice, rupture angle and tension cracks. The accuracy of the proposed method is demonstrated by comparing the experimental results and other theoretical methods. The comparison results show that the proposed approach is suitable for calculating the non-limit active earth pressure in cohesive-frictional soil and cohesionless soil. Additionally, the empirical formulations of the mobilized internal friction angle and soil-wall interface friction angle usually used to cohesionless soil are still applied to cohesive-frictional soil through comparison calculated results of other theoretical methods and finite element method. Some valid formulations of the rupture angle and tension cracks were derived considering the cohesion, wall height, and unit weight.