To investigate the earth pressure at-rest behind a retaining wall, the research group at the National Chiao Tung University designed and constructed a non-yielding model wall facility. Air-dry Ottawa sand was used as a backfill material. Earth pressure experiments with inclined backfill were conducted. Inclination angles of the backfill ranged from minus 20 to plus 20 degrees. Based on the test results, it was found that the backfill placement method had a strong influence on the earth pressure at-rest. Hendron's theory provides a good estimation of the earth pressure against a non-yielding wall filled with sandy soil. The pressure coefficient increment ΔK_(o,h) increased with increasing slope angle i of the backfill. Experimental ΔK_(o,h) values were in fairly good agreement with the elastic solution for positive backfill inclinations. However, the elastic solution tended to underestimate the ΔK_(o,h) values for backfill with negative sloping angles.
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