In the engineering practice, the retaining wall and foundation pit could be regarded as a plane strain condition. Considering the influence of intermediate principal stess on the strength, we obtained the new plane strain strength criterions by substituting the intermediate principal stress relationship of Lade-Duncan strength criterion into SMP and Lade-Duncan, AC-SMP and the generalized Mises strength criterion. Based on these modified strength criterions, active and passive earth pressure models were established, and then extended to cohesive soil. The theoretical and measured values were compared and analyzed. The results show that the effect of intermediate principal stress on earth pressure is significant. The Mohr-Coulomb strength criterion fails to consider the influence of intermediate principal stress, and therefore the calculation results are more conservative than measurement. Considering the influence of the principal stress, the results of SMP and Lade-Duncan strength criterion are much closer to measurement than MC. The AC-SMP and generalized Mises strength criterion can describe the earth pressure of the retaining wall only within a certain range of friction angle, but when it exceeds the applicable range, both are no longer suitable. The calculations of the generalized Mises strength criterion, within the applicable range, are closer to actual data compared with the SMP and Lade-Duncan strength criterion.