Abstract:

An upper bound solution for active earth pressure based on a nonlinear failure criterion is described mainly. Firstly, the power-law nonlinear failure criterion is proposed. Then the variables and are introduced by tangents method; and a unified acceptable velocity field is established. By upper bound analysis, the expression of the active earth pressure is formulated. Because of too many variables in the expression of the earth active pressure, in order to optimize the upper bound solution, large-scale mathematical programming method is applied, in which the widely used SQP algorithm is adopted. Calculating the active earth pressure using the method presented is found to be more efficient; and had a larger range of application comparing with the classical Rankine’s earth pressure theory.

Key words: active earth pressure, power-law nonlinear failure criterion, upper bound analysis, large-scale mathematical programming, Rankine’s earth pressure with a nonlinear failure criterion