Passive earth pressure under the log-spiral failure mechanism

Abstract

Abstract Under either convex or concave log-spiral failure mechanism, the passive earth pressure may be overestimated. This paper develops a new formula satisfying the moment limit equilibrium condition, which combines a new procedure to determine the passive earth pressure. The procedure could consider convex and concave log-spiral failure mechanisms simultaneously and figure out which failure mechanism is critical. The present method can investigate the influence of the inclination of wall, the slope of backfill or the wall friction on the shape of the critical slip surface. Additionally, the comparisons illustrate that the critical slip surface is concave log-spiral under certain conditions.