Distribution of active earth pressure of retaining wall with wall movement of rotation about top

Based on the Coulomb's theory that the earth pressure against the back of a retaining wall is due to the thrust exerted by the sliding wedge of soil from the back of the wall to a plane which passes through the bottom edge of the wall and has an inclination equal to the angle of τ, the theoretical answers to the unit earth pressure, the resultant earth pressure and the point of application of the resultant earth pressure on a retaining wall were obtained for the wall movement mode of rotation about top. The comparisons were made among the formula presented here, the formula for the wall movement mode of translation, the Coulomb's formula and some experimental observations. It is demonstrated that the magnitudes of the resultant earth pressures for the wall movement mode of rotation about top is equal to that determined by the formula for the wall movement mode of translation and the Coulomb's theory. But the distribution of the earth pressure and the points of application of the resultant earth pressures have significant difference. Foundation item: the National Natural Science Foundation of China (5027027); the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (973606311) Biography: Wang Yuan-zhan (1958 ∼), Professor, Doctor