Abstract:A general analytical method to calculate the passive rigid retaining wall pressure was deduced considering all displacement modes. First, the general displacement mode function was setup, then the hypotheses were made that the lateral passive pressure is linear to the corresponding horizontal displacement and the soil behind retaining wall is composed of a set of springs and ideal rigid plasticity body, the general analytical method was proposed to calculate the passive rigid retaining wall pressure based on Coulomb theory. The analytical results show that the resultant forces of the passive earth pressure are equal to those of Coulomb’s theory, but the distribution of the passive pressure and the position of the resultant force depend on the passive displacement mode parameter, and the former is a parabolic function of the soil depth. The analytical results are also in good agreement with the experimental ones.

Key words: rigid retaining wall; displacement mode; passive earth pressure; parabolic function