Figure 11.5 (from Lambe and Whitman, 1969) presents an example of a proposed concrete retaining
wall that will have a height of 20 ft (6.1 m) and a base width of 7 ft (2.1 m). The wall will be
backfilled with sand that has a total unit weight gt of 110 pcf (17.3 kN/m3), friction angle f of 30°,
and an assumed wall friction fw of 30°. Although fw = 30° will be used for this example problem,
more typical values of wall friction are fw = 3/4f for the wall friction between granular soil and
wood or concrete walls, and fw = 20° for the wall friction between granular soil and steel walls such
as sheet-pile walls.
For the example problem shown in Fig. 11.5, the value of the active earth pressure coefficient kA
can be calculated by using Coulomb’s equation (Fig. 11.4) and inserting the following values: