Seismic active thrust due to backfill of general topographic profile

•The active thrust due to a backfill with an irregular topographic profile can be calculated.•Pseudo static force and surcharges are also considered.•An electronic sheet is attached for practical applications of the method.

This note presents an algorithm based on the pseudo-static method of Mononobe–Okabe for the calculation of the active thrust on retaining walls exerted by a backfill with a profile which is general in form. Line and strip surcharges are also considered. The solution is easy and a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet governed by a short code in Visual Basic for Applications is attached to the paper.