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CH 10 - Earth Retaining Structures and Flexible Walls PDF

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125 views

CH 10 - Earth Retaining Structures and Flexible Walls PDF

Uploaded by

Min Khant
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© © All Rights Reserved
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eee EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES— RIGID AND FLEXIBLE WALLS 10.0 INTRODUCTION 10.1 Earth retaining structures are ubiquitous in the man-made environment, These structures have the distinction of being the first to be analyzed using mechanics. In this chapter, we will analyze some typical carth retaining structures to determine their stability. The emphases will be on gaining an understanding of the forces that provoke failures and methods of analysis of simple earth retaining structures You should recall that stability refers to a condition in which a geotechnical system will not fail or collapse under any conceivable loading (static and dynamic loads, fluid pressure, seepage forces) Stability is synonymous with ultimate limit state but serviceability limit state is also important. In many circumstances, the serviceability limit state is the deciding design limit state. When you complete this chapter, you should be able to: ‘+ Understand and determine lateral earth pressures. + Understand the forces that lead to instability of earth retaining structures. * Determine the stability of simple earth retaining structures. DEFINITIONS OF KEY TERMS Active earth pressure coefficient (Ka) is the ratio between the lateral and vertical principal effective stresses when an earth retaining structure moves away (by a small amount) from the retained soil. Passive earth pressure coefficient (Kp) is the ratio between the lateral and vertical principal effective stresses when an earth retaining structure is forced against a soil mass. Gravity or rigid retaining wall is a massive concrete wall relying on its mass to resist the lateral forces from the retained soil mass. Flexible retaining wall or a sheet pile wall isa long slender wall relying on passive resistance and anchors or props for its stability. 10.2_ BASIC CONCEPTS ON LATERAL EARTH PRESSURES _ —— 355 Importance Earth retaining walls primarily support the lateral loads from soils. You need to understand how to determine these forces and the assumptions made. In this section, We will discuss the fundamentals of lateral earth pressures. 356 CHAPTER 10_EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES—-RIGID ANO FLEXIBLE WALLS Wall Wall after rotation —+! ‘Ve sackor wat | Front of walt} Initial (at rest) Kyl Passive Active front and behind a retaining wall We have discussed the lateral earth pressure at rest and the lateral increases in stresses on a semi-infinite, isotropie, homogeneous, elasticsoil mass from surface loading in Chapter 2. We are now going to consider the lateral earth pressures on a vertical wall that retains a soil mass, We will deal with two theories: one proposed by Coulomb (1776) and the other by Rankine (1857). First, we will develop a Pasie under- Standing of lateral earth pressures using a generic of and make the follo sumptions 1. The earth retaining wall is vertical. 2. The interface between the wall and soil is frictionles +3, The soil surface is horizontal and no shear stress acts on horizontal and vertical boundaries. 4. The wall is rigid and extends to an infinite depth in a dry, homogeneous, isotropic soil mass 5, The soil is loose and initially in an at-rest state. Consider the wall as shown in Fig. 10.1. If the wall remains rigid and no movement (not even an infinitesimal movement) occurs, then the vertical and horizontal effective stresses at rest on elements A, at the back wall, and B, at the front wall (Fig. 10.1), are a= 04 =¥2 of, = 04 = Koo} = Koy'z where Ky is the lateral earth pressure at rest. Mohr’s circle for the at-rest state is shown by circle D in Fig. 10.2, Let us now assume a rotation about the bottom of the wall sufficient to produce slip planes in the soil mass behind and in front of the wall (Fig. 10.3). The rotation required, and consequently the lateral strains to produce sip planes in front of the wall is much larger than that required for the back of the wall, as shown in Fig, 10.4 The soil mass at the back of the wall is assisting in producing failure while the soil mass at the front of the wall is resisting failure. In the latter, you have to rotate the wall against the soil to produce failure. What happens to the lateral effective stresses on elements A and B (Fig. 10.1) when the wall is rotated? The vertical stress will not change on either element but the lateral effective stress on element A ‘Wil be reduced while that for element B will be increased. We can now plot two additional Mohr’s circles: de to represent the stress state of element A (circle ®. Fig, 10.2) and the other to represent the sires State of clement B (circle @ Fig. 10.2). Both circles are drawn such that the decrease (element A) or increase (clement B) in lateral effective stress is sufficient to bring the soil to the Mohr-Coulomb failure vate, For element B to reach the failure state, the lateral effective stress must be greater than the vertical effective stress, as shown in Fig. 10.2. 102 BASIC CONCEPTS ON LATERAL EARTH PRESSURES 357 Mohr-Coulomb failure ine \ ole for fassive stale FIGURE 10.2 Mohr's circles at rest, active, and passive states. Wal in orginal position SS SSeS BSSSOSS XX ‘ XX Ny i See Rankine active zone ankine passive Zone Ses anit SOSH sip plane 8 RE , Bao ft “

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