A limit equilibrium method for the limiting landslide pressure acting on a retaining structure

Abstract

A novel limit equilibrium method is proposed for calculating the limiting landslide force acting on a planar sliding layer and on a retaining structure. The limiting landslide force can be determined by the horizontal force balance equation of the rigid block in the limit state adjacent to the retaining structure. Comparisons of the results obtained with the proposed method with the results obtained with the finite element method and limit analysis show that although the landslide pressure on one side of the rigid block is determined by the approximate method of curve fitting, the proposed method can be used in the design of landslide prevention. The proposed method can also analyse the influence of the soil-wall friction and the strength of the weak layer on the limiting landslide force. In addition, a simple, approximate, logarithmic spiral passive earth pressure theory-based formula is proposed to estimate the limiting landslide pressure for practical application.