Ok about the original question. I think I will just calculate conservative unless this yields very over dimensioned structures.
Side discussion: sympy can be used to do symbolic calculations (including integrals etc.) It also contains a unit module but it is not really useful. Every SI unit is...
Just out off curiosity, I checked my Boussinesq value with a double integration of point loads against a simple integration of line loads. The latter gives the same as the navfac approach but is however smaller than the value from the point loads. Your value from the point loads is very low. Can...
Off topic: I use Excel, IPython and GNU octave as numerical packages for writing custom worksheets.
Concerning your comparison request. I'm not sure I got the whole part but I used the data of your other topic: 10' wall height, a 10' width strip load of 200 psf, at 5' from the wall. (I'm not...
I made the integration for surface load based upon the Boussinesq point load. Integration was done for a width of 50 x H and for -50 to 50 m. Again the same conclusions. http://files.engineering.com/getfile.aspx?folder=07db93d8-a05b-4763-9afd-536dfbed1ea2&file=surcharge_wall_v2.pdf
@RFreund: IPython is indeed free/open source. IPython just replace the python shell. You can have it in command line, as a Qtconsole or as an interactive web based notebook.
I never tried Smath. We have Mathcad at our office but I mostly use IPython. (With the Unum module for unit aware...
@FixedEarth : I follow your idea but I still does not explain the difference. The formula for the line load may be integrated to form an infinity extend area load. I did this for the navfac formula and for the classic Boussinesq formula. For 50 kN/m² (or the units you prefer) infinity extend...
I face a strange problem when calculation the loads on a retaining wall.
For example, if we have a soil with φ = 30° behind a wall, we would have an a rest pressure coefficient of K0 = 1 - sin φ = 0.5. If we have an infinitely extended surcharge of 50 kN/m² we would thus have 25 kN/m² lateral...
