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Lateral Pressures on Retaining Walls from Surcharges, Das vs AASHTO 1

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SG2010

Structural
Dec 18, 2015
2
I am confused about a discrepancy between the equations calculating the lateral pressure on a wall due to surcharge loading, as defined in Principles of Geotechnical Engineering (Braja M. Das) and the same equation as provided in AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications. I have attached cut sheet images below for reference.

These two equations appear to be very similar, with the exception that Das divides the pressure by height of wall, H and AASHTO divides by Pi. It could be a result of unit conversion or some obvious trig that I am misunderstanding, but it doesn't seem to make much sense to have it be dependent on H. For a large wall height of say 30', Equation 12.23 would reduce this localized pressure near the top of the wall by nearly 10x. I couldn't find this discussed before in this forum, but if anyone has any input on the utilization of either of these two equations I would appreciate it.

Thank you!

AASHTO_3.11.6.2_magqsb.png


12.23_Das_ae3g3g.png
 
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I realize the clips from Chapter 12 from Das did not come in cleary. Re-attached them below.

Das_1_mkkcvq.png
Das_2_sl1eaa.png
 
I think it is depends on the method used. Below is using so called "Elastic Method".

image_jxknzf.png
 
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