A Critical Review on Static and Seismic Earth Pressure of Layered Soil on Retaining Wall

Retaining walls are usually constructed to retain the backfill soil. However, a seismic study of earth pressure in layered soils is complicated and cannot be reliably predicted due to soil-structure interaction influenced by the backfill soil properties and wall rigidity. The complexity lies in understanding the potential failure surface and the soil arching effects due to the interaction of the soil layers. It is observed that the possible failure surface in the backfill soil depends upon the friction angle between the wall and backfill soil. The failure surface tends to be planar for small friction angles, and a curved failure surface is observed for higher friction angles. Also, under pseudo-static conditions with constant seismic coefficients, the stress distribution in soil along the height of the retaining wall presents a non-linear pattern approaching a curvilinear surface behind the retaining wall in the active and passive case. Moreover, the effect of non-homogeneity due to the layered soils leading to the soil arching phenomenon due to the interaction of soil layers on the distribution of earth pressure is also a concern. This paper describes the distribution of earth pressure in layered c-phi soil, considering the effect of the soil arching phenomenon.