Active and Passive Lateral Earth Pressure with Anisotropic Seepage Effect

Abstract

This study investigated active and passive lateral earth pressure in the presence of anisotropic seepage conditions. The soil was assumed to be granular and fully saturated. Three methods were used to solve the problem: (1) the upper bound limit analysis method (UBM); (2) upper and lower bound solutions of finite-element limit analysis (FELA); and (3) the stress characteristic method (SCM). The proposed analytical solution for the UBM employed the logarithmic spiral slip surface. The lateral earth pressure coefficients for the active and passive cases were calculated and presented, considering variations in the vertical-to-horizontal hydraulic conductivity ratio, friction angle, and soil–wall interface friction angle. The obtained results for the active and passive cases agree with those of previous studies. The results of the SCM showed that in the presence of seepage, the distribution of stress on the soil–wall interface is nonlinear. In addition, the failure zone obtained from different methods was compared and examined. The failure patterns obtained from the SCM and FELA were almost identical.