Capacity of a "berm" under a lateral load?

[JDrinkard]

Looking for some help understanding how to determine the capacity of a "berm" (or hill/mound/etc.) of soil when applying a lateral load (see included photo below).

Would it be conservative to assume it shears across its base? Whats the simple way to idealize this? What would the actual shear plane look like?

 

[r13]

The resistance is through shear friction at the idealized shear plane as drawn.

 

[PEinc]

Assuming that the berm is made from soil, you need to calculate the passive resistance of the berm with a downward sloping top surface. What is supporting the vertical face of the berm? What is the berm made out of? Soil? Rocks? The shear plane that you showed may not be the critical failure surface.

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