Study of the Earth Pressure of the Finite Soil Layer

A planar sliding landslide with a finite soil layer is located in Anhui province. Soon after the retaining wall was built, cracks appeared in the wall. It is necessary to obtain the value and distribution of the earth pressure behind the wall. The distribution law of earth pressure behind the wall cannot be obtained by using classical Rankine and Coulomb earth pressure theories directly. Therefore, in this work, three methods were adopted to study the earth pressure of the finite soil layer on the retaining wall. 1. Graphic method. Based on the Coulomb theory of earth pressure, the vertical upward cohesion Ca is added and the earth pressure is obtained according to the force vector polygon. 2. Conversion overloading method. The soil beyond the top of the wall is converted into the overload effect on the soil, and then Rankine theory is used to calculate the earth pressure. 3. Numerical analysis method. Finite element software was used to simulate the slope under natural conditions. Based on this study, it was concluded that the value of the earth pressure calculated by the graphic method is the minimum, whereas that obtained by the overload calculation is the maximum. The distribution of earth pressure obtained by numerical simulation of the limited soil mass first increases, then decreases and then once again increases from the top to the bottom of the retaining wall.