Lateral Earth Pressures on Model Walls During Backfill : II. Movable Wall

A series of laboratory experiments were carried out to observe the variation of lateral earth pressure acting on the movable wall with variations of geometries of wall and backfill. During and after the backfill, the developed lateral earth pressure, displacements, and the change of wall friction angle were measured. And the measured lateral earth pressures were compared with those by extended silo and wedge theories. As the backfill height increased, the lateral movement and settlement of the wall grew larger and the lateral earth pressure gradually reduced to the coulomb's active earth pressure in the final from value in the begining. It was shown that the measured lateral earth pressure was highly influenced by the backfill width, the angles of the wall slope, and the fixed face.