Pseudo-Dynamic Active Earth Pressure Analysis of Inclined Retaining Walls Using Horizontal Slices Method

Retaining walls may be constructed with an inclination angle of less than 90 degrees from the horizontal axis. In the present study, using the horizontal slices method and limit equilibrium principles, in addition to assuming variation of the seismic coefficient with height, a new formulation is proposed to calculate the active seismic pressure on retaining walls. The general arrangement of the proposed pseudo-dynamic formulation allows analysis of inclined or vertical retaining walls in frictional, cohesive and cohesive-frictional soils. Results from the proposed method were compared with those of previous researchers under similar conditions and showed a negligible difference. The horizontal slices method was able to assess an inclined wall, determine the active earth pressure distribution at different points along the wall height and consider the angle of failure wedge as a variable in the time domain. The findings show that despite the accepted assumptions for conventional vertical walls the distribution of earth pressure on an inclined wall follows a non-linear pattern at each moment.