Effect of the soil pressure and that of filtration forces on a triangular retaining wall

The filtration forces considered as the forces determining the form and the performance characteristics of full-scale hydro-engineering gravity structures have a significance comparable with that of the main effects: the hydrostatic pressure and the own mass of the structure. The examples of determination of the stress state caused by filtration forces through the modelling method include the recommendations on the replacement of the aforesaid effects by the surface loadings applied to the gravity centre of their projections. This method reduces the accuracy of the results and requires (like with the construction of backpressure lines) the tests of many models. The authors carried out the modelling of the effect of the soil pressure and that of filtration forces in accordance with the modelling methodology based on the equivalence of effects. The article contains a solution for a retaining wall with a triangular cross-section under the effect of the soil pressure on the vertical side and that of volume filtration forces. (paper)