Should Passive Earth Pressure be Used to Resist Overturning of a Cantilevered Retaining Wall?
Should Passive Earth Pressure be Used to Resist Overturning of a Cantilevered Retaining Wall?
(OP)
For this loading scenario, the toe side is on the left, and the heel side is on the right.

When we check overturning, we divide the resisting moments by the overturning moments to determine the factor of safety against overturning. Should the passive earth pressure be included in the resisting moments? Normally I ignore it because usually I only have a couple of feet of soil over the toe, and it doesn't make a big difference one way or the other. However, in this situation, I have 18' of soil over the toe (so my footing can go down to bedrock), and this is making my design extremely costly (5' thick wall and footing, etc.).
Here are the 3 ways I can think of to treat the passive earth pressure:
Option 1: Completely ignore the passive earth pressure.
Option 2: Use only the portion of the passive earth pressure that is "engaged" to resist sliding (often less than the full allowable passive pressure).
Option 3: Use the full allowable passive pressure.
Is there any literature out there that addresses this situation?
Much appreciated,
Jeremy

When we check overturning, we divide the resisting moments by the overturning moments to determine the factor of safety against overturning. Should the passive earth pressure be included in the resisting moments? Normally I ignore it because usually I only have a couple of feet of soil over the toe, and it doesn't make a big difference one way or the other. However, in this situation, I have 18' of soil over the toe (so my footing can go down to bedrock), and this is making my design extremely costly (5' thick wall and footing, etc.).
Here are the 3 ways I can think of to treat the passive earth pressure:
Option 1: Completely ignore the passive earth pressure.
Option 2: Use only the portion of the passive earth pressure that is "engaged" to resist sliding (often less than the full allowable passive pressure).
Option 3: Use the full allowable passive pressure.
Is there any literature out there that addresses this situation?
Much appreciated,
Jeremy





RE: Should Passive Earth Pressure be Used to Resist Overturning of a Cantilevered Retaining Wall?
EM 1110-2-2502
29 Sep 89
Chapter 3
3-8 b
RE: Should Passive Earth Pressure be Used to Resist Overturning of a Cantilevered Retaining Wall?
RE: Should Passive Earth Pressure be Used to Resist Overturning of a Cantilevered Retaining Wall?
RE: Should Passive Earth Pressure be Used to Resist Overturning of a Cantilevered Retaining Wall?
Otherwise, you can just design the wall for at-rest on both sides and obtain the lateral resistance by the base shear. It's conservative, but will also limit the potential movements required to engage the soil friction.
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ípapß gordo ainÆt no madre flaca!