Assessment of Equivalent Heights of Soil for the Lateral Earth Pressure Against Retaining Walls Due to Design Truck Load by 3D Numerical Analysis

Limit state design has been implemented in Korea since 2015; however, there exists no specification of lateral load determination on retaining wall due to the Korean standard traffic load on retaining wall’s backfill surface. The lateral load from traffic depends on lane number, standard truck’s axle loads and locations, loading distance from the inner wall. The concept of equivalent height of soil accounting for traffic loadings is typically used for design of retaining walls to quantify the traffic loads transmitted to the inner wall faces. Due to the different characteristics of the standard design trucks between Korea and US (AASHTO), the direct use of the guidelines from AASHTO LRFD leads to incorrect estimation of traffic load effects on retaining walls. This paper presents the results of evaluation of equivalent height of soil to reflect the Korean standard truck, based on the findings from analytical solutions using Bounessq’s theory and numerical assessment using 2D finite element method. Consequently, it was found that the equivalent heights of soil from the Korean standard truck load were lower for lower retaining wall height.