Coulomb Theory - An inherent assumption of the Rankine Theory is that the presence

of the wall does not affect the shearing stresses at the surface of wall contact.
However,
since the friction between the retaining wall and the soil has a significant effect
on the
vertical shear stresses in the soil, the lateral stresses on the wall are actually
different than
those assumed by the Rankine Theory. Most of this error can be avoided by using the
Coulomb Theory, which considers the changes in tangential stress along the contact
surface due to wall friction.
As the wall yields, the failure wedge tends to move downward for the active case.
For
the passive case, where the wall is forced against the soil, the wedge slides
upward along
the failure plane. These differential movements involve vertical displacements
between
the wall and backfill and create tangential stresses on the back of the wall due to
soil
friction and adhesion. The resulting force on the wall is, therefore, inclined at
an angle to
the normal to the wall. This angle is known as the angle of wall friction, For
the active
case, when the active wedge slides downward relative to the wall, is taken as
positive.
For the passive case, when the passive wedge slides upward relative to the wall,
is taken
as negative. If the angle of wall friction is known, the following analytical
expressions for
K
a
and K
p
in the horizontal direction for a vertical wall are: