The figure shows a vertical retaining wall with backfill consisting of cohesive-frictional soil and a failure plane developed due to passive earth pressure. The forces acting on the failure wedge are: P as the reaction force between the wall and the soil, R as the reaction force on the failure plane, C as the cohesive force along the failure plane and W as the weight of the failure wedge. Assuming that there is no adhesion between the wall and the wedge, identify the most appropriate force polygon for the wedge.
A soil having the average properties, bulk unit weight = 19 kN/m3 ; angle of internal friction = 25° and cohesion = 15 kPa, is being formed on a rock slope existing at an inclination of 35° with the horizontal. The critical height (in m) of the soil formation up to which it would be stable without any failure is _________ (round off to one decimal place).
[Assume the soil is being formed parallel to the rock bedding plane and there is no ground water effect.]
A smooth vertical retaining wall supporting layered soils is shown in figure. According to Rankine’s earth pressure theory, the lateral active earth pressure acting at the base of the wall is ________ kPa (round off to one decimal place).
