WHERE EARTH PRESSURE?

Calculating lateral earth pressure is

necessary in order to design structures such
as:

Retaining Walls
Bridge Abutments
Bulkheads
Temporary Earth Support Systems
Basement Walls 2
TYPES OF RETAINING WALLS:

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USE OF RETAINING WALLS

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USE OF RETAINING WALLS

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 IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING,
IT IS OFTEN NECESSARY TO PREVENT LATERAL SOIL
MOVEMENTS

Cantilever Braced excavation

retaining wall
Anchored sheet pile
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DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS

Active earth pressure coefficient (Ka): It is the

ratio of horizontal and vertical principal effective
stresses when a retaining wall moves away (by a
small amount) from the retained soil.
Passive earth pressure coefficient (Kp): It is
the ratio of horizontal and vertical principal
effective stresses when a retaining wall is forced
against a soil mass.
Coefficient of earth pressure at rest (Ko): It is
the ratio of horizontal and vertical principal
effective stresses when the retaining wall does not
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LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE BASIC
CONCEPTS
We will consider the lateral pressure on a vertical wall that
retains soil on one side.
First, we will consider a drained case, i.e. The shear strength
of the soil is governed by its angle of friction
In addition, we will make the following assumptions:
The interface between the wall and the soil is frictionless.
The soil surface is horizontal and there are no shear
stresses on horizontal and vertical planes, i.e. The horizontal
and vertical stresses are principal stresses.
The wall is rigid and extends to an infinite depth in a dry,
homogenous, isotropic soil mass.
The soil is loose and initially in an at-rest state. 8
LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE THEORY

There are two classical earth pressure theories.

They are
1. Coulomb's earth pressure theory.
2. Rankine's earth pressure theory.

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THE RANKINE THEORY ASSUMES:

There is no adhesion or friction between the wall

and soil
Lateral pressure is limited to vertical walls
Failure (in the backfill) occurs as a sliding
wedge along an assumed failure plane defined
by
Lateral pressure varies linearly with depth and
the resultant pressure is located one-third of the
height (H) above the base of the wall.
The resultant force is parallel to the backfill 10
surface.
THE COULOMB THEORY IS SIMILAR TO
RANKINE EXCEPT THAT:
There is friction between the wall and soil and
takes this into account by using a soil-wall

is commonly used.
Lateral pressure is not limited to vertical walls
The resultant force is not necessarily parallel to
the backfill surface because of the soil-wall
friction value
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LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE FOR AT
REST CONDITION
If the wall is rigid and does not move with the
pressure exerted on the wall, the soil behind
the wall will be in a state of elastic equilibrium.

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LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE FOR AT REST
CONDITION
Element E is subjected to the following pressures.

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 LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE FOR AT REST
CONDITION

If we consider the backfill is homogeneous then v

and h both increase linearly with depth z.
In such a case, the ratio of h to v remains
constant with respect to depth, that is

Where, Ko is called the coefficient of earth pressure for the at rest condition or at
rest earth pressure Coefficient.

The lateral earth pressure h acting on the wall at any depth z may be
expressed as 14
LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE FOR AT REST
CONDITION

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COEFFICIENTS OF EARTH PRESSURE FOR AT
REST CONDITION : KO

Type of soil Ip Ko

Loose sand, saturated 0.46

Dense sand, saturated 0.36
Dense sand, dry (e = 0.6) 0.49
Loose sand, dry (e = 0.8) 0.64
Compacted clay 9 0.42
Compacted clay 31 0.60
Organic silty clay, 45 0.57
undisturbed (w{ = 74%)
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FACTORS AFFECTING KO

The value of Ko depends upon the relative

density of the sand and the process by
which the deposit was formed.
If this process does not involve artificial
tamping the value of Ko ranges from about
0.40 for loose sand to 0.6 for dense sand.
Tamping the layers may increase it to 0.8.

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DEVELOPMENT OF ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
EARTH PRESSURES

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HORIZONTAL STRESS AS A FUNCTION OF THE
DISPLACEMENT

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DEVELOPMENT OF EARTH PRESSURES

Active Pressures
Overburden (
Driving

Passive Pressures
Wall ( Driving

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ACTIVE EARTH PRESSURE

Wall moves away from soil

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ACTIVE EARTH PRESSURE

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PASSIVE EARTH PRESSURE

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PASSIVE EARTH PRESSURE

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MOVEMENT REQUIRED TO DEVELOP ACTIVE
EARTH PRESSURE

Soil Type & Condition H Required

H
Sands , Granular soil
Dense 0.001 H to 0.002H

loose 0.002 H to 0.004 H

H
Clays
Stiff/Hard 0.01H to 0.02 H
Soft material 0.02 H to 0.05H

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 RANKINE'S EARTH PRESSURE
THEORIES
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RANKINE'S CONDITION FOR ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
FAILURES IN A SEMI-INFINITE MASS OF COHESIONLESS
SOIL

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RANKINE S THEORY: ACTIVE EARTH
PRESSURE

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SMOOTH VERTICAL WALL WITH
COHESIONLESS BACKFILL
Backfill Horizontal-Active Earth Pressure

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Backfill Horizontal-Passive Earth Pressure

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RANKINE S THEORY: PASSIVE EARTH
PRESSURE

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Relationship between Kp and KA

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RANKINE S THEORY: ACTIVE EARTH
PRESSURE

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TENSION CRACK IN SOIL

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RANKINE'S ACTIVE PRESSURE UNDER SUBMERGED
CONDITION IN COHESION LESS SOIL

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RANKINE'S ACTIVE PRESSURE IN COHESIONLESS
BACKFILL UNDER PARTLY SUBMERGED CONDITION
WITH SURCHARGE LOAD

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RANKINE'S ACTIVE PRESSURE FOR A SLOPING
COHESIONLESS BACKFILL

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MOHR DIAGRAM

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RANKINE'S PASSIVE PRESSURE IN SLOPING
COHESIONLESS BACKFILL

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RANKINE'S ACTIVE EARTH RESSURE WITH
COHESIVE BACKFILL

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RANKINE'S ACTIVE EARTH RESSURE WITH
COHESIVE BACKFILL

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ACTIVE EARTH PRESSURE ON VERTICAL
SECTIONS IN COHESIVE SOILS

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EFFECT OF WATER TABLE ON LATERAL EARTH
PRESSURE

N = tan2 (45+ /2)

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 RANKINE S THEORY: SPECIAL CASES
v v-u
Submergence: h =Ka v u u= pore water pressure

Inclined Backfill:

Inclined but Smooth Back face of wall:

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 COULOMB'S EARTH PRESSURE
THEORY
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COULOMB'S EARTH PRESSURE THEORY FOR
SAND FOR ACTIVE STATE

Coulomb made the following assumptions in

the development of his theory:
1. The soil is isotropic and homogeneous
2. The rupture surface is a plane surface
3. The failure wedge is a rigid body
4. The pressure surface is a plane surface
5. There is wall friction on the pressure surface
6. Failure is two-dimensional and
7. The soil is cohesionless
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CONDITIONS FOR FAILURE UNDER ACTIVE
CONDITIONS

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PROCEDURE TO DRAW ABC

1. AB is the pressure face

2. The backfill surface BE is a plane inclined at an
angle with the horizontal
3. is the angle made by the pressure face AB with
the horizontal
4. H is the height of the wall
5. AC is the assumed rupture plane surface, and
6. is the angle made by the surface AC with the
horizontal
7. W = yA, where A = area of wedge ABC
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ACTIVE EARTH PRESSURE

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COULOMB'S EARTH PRESSURE THEORY FOR
SAND FOR PASSIVE STATE

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COULOMB S THEORY: PASSIVE EARTH
PRESSURE ( GRAPHICAL METHOD)

Wall Friction:

theory
overestimates
Passive EP

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COULOMB S THEORY: ACTIVE EARTH
PRESSURE ( GRAPHICAL METHOD)
Wall Friction:

theory
underestimates
Active EP

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COULOMB S THEORY: SOLUTIONS

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CULMANN S GRAPHICAL METHOD: ACTIVE EP

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CULMANN S GRAPHICAL METHOD: PASSIVE EP

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PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION FOR STRATIFIED
SOILS

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THE LOCATION OF STRUTS AFFECTS THE VALUES AND
DISTRIBUTIONS OF LATERAL EARTH PRESSURES

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MODES OF GEOTECHNICAL FAILURES

Bearing

Sliding Overturning

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Overall Stability Settlement

 LATERAL SUPPORT

Gravity Retaining Soil nailing Reinforced earth wall

wall

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SOIL NAILING

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SHEET PILE

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THE MAGNITUDE OF LATERAL EARTH
PRESSURE DEPENDS ON:

Shear strength characteristics of soil

2. Lateral strain condition
3. Pore water pressure
4. State of Equilibrium of soil
5. Wall and ground surface shape

Previous conditions depends mainly on:

a) Drainage conditions
b) Interaction between soil and wall
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 WALL DRAINAGE
Accumulation of rain water in the back fill results in its
saturation, and thus a considerable increase in the earth
pressure acting on the wall.
This may eventually lead to unstable conditions.
Two of the options to take care of this problem are the
following:
Provision of weep holes w/o geo-textile on the back-face of
wall
Perforated pipe draining system with filter

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 WALL DRAINAGE
Weep Holes: They should have a
minimum
diameter of 10 cm and be adequately
spaced depending on the backfill material.
Geotextile material or a thin layer of some
other filter may be used on the back face of
wall for the full height in order to avoid the
back fill material entering the weep holes
and eventually clogging them.

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GABION RETAINING WALL

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 REFERANCES:
1. Soil Mecahnics & Foundation Engg. - Arora.
2. Soil Mechanics V.N.S.Murthy
3. www.wikipedia.com

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