Abstract: The interaction between earth berm and retaining structure is analyzed with finite element method. A simplified method is proposed to consider the effect of earth berm on the retaining pile. The calculated results show that the existence of earth berm has a significant influence on reducing the internal force and displacement of retaining pile. The internal force and displacement of retaining pile decrease with the increase of the width or height of earth berm. The pile deformation gradually tends to steady when the width of earth berm increases to the excavation depth. The deformation and internal force of the retaining piles considering the effect of earth berm can be calculated by the following method. Firstly, the deformation and internal force of the retaining piles can be calculated by elastic foundation beam method without considering the effect of earth berm. Then the area reduction factor of the earth berm is calculated. Finally, the deformation and internal force can be calculated. Through actual engineering verification, the force and deformation of retaining structure can be more easily calculated by the simplified calculation method.

Key words: foundation pit, reserved earth berm, simplified analysis method