Lateral Pressure on Rigid Retaining Walls without Lateral Movement

There is a direct relationship between lateral pressure on retaining walls due to surface charges and the rigidity of the wall. According to Spangler theory if the wall is rigid without horizontal displacement the lateral pressure is equal to double amount of added horizontal stress by overload that is calculated by the Boussinesq formula. However, recently Bowles opposed to the theory and considers Renman studies on the effect of Poisson's ratio and soil density correct. This study aims at making a comparison between the two theories using elastic finite element software. Vertical stress distribution in the vicinity of a surface perpendicular to the fixed horizontal position that models rigid retaining walls behavior has been investigated. The results have been compared with the recent studies findings and the theory of elasticity and the shortcomings of existing computational power have been analyzed, as well.

Keywords:

Lateral earth pressure , Rigid wall , Numerical method , Finite element