Earth pressure on an unyielding wall due to a strip surcharge

Abstract

The horizontal pressure acting on a non-yielding wall due to a strip loading was studied in this paper. Based on the experimental results, the following conclusions were made. If the strip surcharge was located near the face of the wall, the surcharge loading would induce a decrease of lateral pressure in the upper part of the compacted backfill. It may be deduced that the surcharge applied on the top of the soil near the wall would compress the soil element vertically. The induced lateral deformation would make the compacted soil "less passive" and the lateral soil thrust to decrease. This phenomenon would disappear if the surcharge loading was removed. The experimental lateral soil thrust induced by surcharge loading was apparently smaller than the theoretical predictions.