Experimental investigation of three-dimensional earth pressure according to aspect ratio of retaining wall

The purpose of this study is to investigate the scale and load distribution of three-dimensional active earth pressure and the load transferred to the adjacent soil by changing the aspect ratio of a retaining wall through a series of model tests. In this research, 42 earth pressure plates of different heights and widths were installed to evaluate the earth pressures by considering the wall aspect ratio and the change of earth pressure. The test results showed that the active earth pressures were uniformly converged when the percentage of limit displacement against wall height was 0.12%. The distribution of active earth pressure on the wall showed a parabola shape for most aspect ratios while the wedge shape identified by the model test was similar to the shell-shaped model. In this paper, two diagrams were proposed regarding the active earth pressure according to the aspect ratio of a retaining wall; (1) a diagram of earth pressure conversion against the aspect ratio based on evaluated three-dimensional active earth pressures with traditional two-dimensional earth pressures, (2) a load transfer diagram based on the horizontal distance by analyzing the horizontal and vertical load transfer ranges with the relevant increasing rates.