Lateral Earth Pressure and Rigid Earth Retaining Walls

Earth retaining walls can be grouped into two categories: rigid retaining walls and flexible retaining walls. Design and analysis for the former is typically based on classical earth pressure theories. This chapter focuses on rigid retaining walls. It explains the at-rest earth condition, to wit, a condition where there is no lateral deformation or lateral displacement in a soil mass. The chapter discusses two classical earth pressure theories namely, Rankine analysis and Coulomb analysis, and applications of the theories. It describes in detail the influence of submergence, seepage, relative wall movement, and seismic forces for both Rankine and Coulomb analyses. In Rankine analysis, every point in the soil mass behind a retaining structure is assumed to be in a state of limiting equilibrium. Coulomb analysis, on the other hand, assumes that shear failure occurs only along a single planar failure surface in the soil mass behind a retaining structure.