Abstract: The hypothesis is presented that there is a linear relationship between the lateral pressure and its horizontal displacement along a rigid retaining wall,and the soil mass is treated as the combination of a set of springs and ideal rigid plasticity objects.Through the analysis of displacement models of the retaining wall and the improvement of Coulomb’s theory,the calculation method of active earth pressure for rigid retaining walls under different displacement modes is proposed.The resultant forces of the active earth pressure by the present method are equal to those of Coulomb’s theory.The distribution of the active pressure is nonlinear,and the points of the resultant forces of active earth pressure are variable in a certain range.The calculated results are in agreement with the experimental ones.So the present method is of theoretical value for studying the active earth pressure on rigid retaining walls.