Civil Engineering PE

Answer: A - The failure zone is created by active and passive lateral earth pressure acting on a retaining wall is typically bounded by the failure surface of the retained soil mass and the back face of the wall. The failure surface of the retained soil mass is along the plane at which the soil has attained limiting equilibrium. The distribution of active and passive lateral pressures is assumed to be triangular, and the impact of the pressures can be calculated using Coulomb’s method.