Abstract: To study the influence of the movement mode of retaining wall and the width of fill on the active earth pressure of cohesionless finite soil, the discrete element simulation of translation (T) mode, rotating about the base (RB) mode and rotating about the top (RT) mode of retaining wall were carried out under different widths of fill. According to the discrete element simulation results, the active earth pressure, the failure mode of the soil behind the wall and the stress state were analyzed. The results indicate that the failure mode and stress state of soil are transferred by the change of retaining wall movement mode and the widths of fill, which lead to the variation of active earth pressure distribution. The values of mobilized internal friction angle in the sliding wedge of T and RB modes will increase relative to the initial value, and small principal stress arches will appear in the sliding soil wedges of T mode. The RT mode is more special, when the width of fill is small, the stress state is similar to the T mode; when the width of fill is large, in the upper part of the sliding wedge, there will be a region in which the internal friction angle is reduced relative to the initial value, and a large principal stress arch will appear.

Key words: discrete element method, active earth pressure, cohesionless soil, finite soils, soil arching