I understand that Hydrostatic pressure and Soil pressure exist concurrently. I'm curious how these separate loads interact with each other.
Full disclaimer: I am not an engineer nor do I pretend to be one. I recognize that these are very broad & elementary questions; I am at the early stages of my understanding. Please be assured I am not, and will not, attempt to engineer actual structures.
- Does the pore size limit, in any way, the surface area available for hydrostatic loading on the back of a retaining wall? I assume it does not. It would stand to reason that water under pressure would suspend the soil particles and push its way to the point where most of the surface area on the back of the wall was under a hydrostatic load?
- Soil particules become suspended in water while a hydrostaic load is present. Does this (or any other water related factor) affect the overall soil load or does it remain the same?
- Is the total load on the wall simply $\frac{H^2}{2}(\gamma_s K_a + \gamma_w)$ (Where $\gamma_s$ and $\gamma_w$ are the soil and water densities, respectively)?