Retaining & slopes · Earth pressures
Lateral pressure from surcharges (elastic) calculator
Lateral pressure profile on a rigid wall from a line load (Terzaghi modified Boussinesq) and a strip load, with resultant force.
Standard: Boussinesq-based solutions (strip & line load, ×2 for rigid wall; NAVFAC DM-7)
Open the live calculator → All retaining & slopes calculators
Inputs in the worked example
The live calculator starts with these values; change any of them and every result, check and diagram updates instantly.
| Input | Value | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Wall height | 5 | m |
| Line load | 30 | kN/m |
| Line load distance from wall | 1.5 | m |
| Strip load | 20 | kPa |
| Strip near edge distance | 1 | m |
| Strip far edge distance | 4 | m |
Worked example — results
| Result | Value | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Resultant (trapezoidal sum) | 46.96 | kN/m |
| Peak pressure | 16.34 | kPa |
- ✓ Resultant computed
Method, formulas and assumptions
- Resultant (trapezoidal sum) = SUMPRODUCT([t.p])*5/10 = 46.963 kN/m
- Peak pressure = MAX([t.p]) = 16.341 kPa
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For preliminary design and education. Check every result against the current standard and your own engineering judgement before use.