A reasonable method was proposed to calculate earth pressure on rigid retaining wall rotating outward about the top. Based on the progressive rupture mechanism of backfill and arching effect

the nonlinear relationships between the wall movement and the mobilized angles of internal friction and wall friction were developed; and the initial frictional angles were decided on the initial stress condition. The modified horizontal layer analysis method of active pressure was used to calculate lateral earth pressures

total lateral forces and the applied points under different rotating angles. Comparisons between the calculated results and observations from model test show that the proposed method can provide a good prediction of lateral earth pressures for walls rotating about the top.