Calculation of Passive Earth Pressure on Rigid Retaining Wall Affected by Seepage and Soil Arching

Seepage and soil arching are commonly encountered in the soil behind a rigid retaining wall, so the influence of these factors should be considered when calculating the earth pressure of the retaining wall. In this paper, behind a rigid retaining wall the steady seepage field was analyzed, the soil arching was also presented assuming the parabola soil arching, then improved formula of passive earth pressure on rigid retaining wall is obtained based on the horizontal differential element method. The result showed that the calculation of the passive earth pressure by the horizontal differential element method is consistent with the Coulomb's earth pressure theory. Considering the seepage effect will reduce the passive earth pressure, while considering the soil arching effect will not change the passive earth pressure. The height of application of passive force from bottom is less than 1/3 of the height of the retaining wal. Considering the soil arching, the height of application of passive force from bottom is moved down, and the height of application of passive force from bottom is moved up by considering the seepage.