Spatial Earth Pressure Analysis of V-Shaped Gully Shoulder Retaining Wall under Translational Mode

Abstract

Mountainous regions are often characterized by the presence of V-shaped gullies, necessitating the construction of retaining structures to support the embankments spanning across these gullies. The gully topography renders conventional two-dimensional soil pressure calculation theory unable to meet the stability requirements for the design of retaining walls (RWs) in mountainous gullies. To address this issue, the sliding bodies of V-shaped gully retaining walls have been identified as high-wall type and low-wall type, and the spatial earth pressure of V-shaped RWs has been determined using the horizontal differential layer method. Combined with numerical simulation, a systematic parametric study is conducted to reveal the impact of the fill-soil internal friction angle, wall–soil contact surface roughness, wall height-to-width ratio, and valley side-slope angle on the active earth pressure acting on the wall. The magnitude of internal friction angle of the fill and the side-bank angle significantly influence the horizontal earth pressure. However, for RWs with finite length along their longitudinal direction, the active earth pressure value at the wall ends is significantly lower than values computed under two-dimensional plane-strain conditions. Moreover, the resultant active force point is located in the range of H/3−H/2 from the wall bottom, where H = wall height, which shows that considering three-dimensional effects is significant.