Abstract
In design, the earth pressure of retaining wall is generally estimated by the Coulomb's earth pressure theory based on the limit equilibrium method. However, it is difficult to assess the earth pressure in case of pure three dimensional problem and inhomogeneous ground such as the improved ground. On the contrary, the rigid plastic finite element method is applicable to earth pressure assessment for general three dimensional and inhomogeneous problem. However, it is difficult to assess the active and passive earth pressures without providing a specific velocity admissible field since they are defined in tha same boundary value problem. This paper proposes a new analysis method to estimate active and passive earth pressures by rigid plastic finite element method (RPFEM) without any condition on the admissible velocity field. Moreover, it is applicable to the seismic active earth pressure based on the pseudo-static method. The applicability of proposed method has been examined through some case studies.
