Lateral Earth Pressure

Sources: Braja.M.Das
Kovex
Objective of lecture
• Definition, pressure at rest, active and passive earth pressures
• Coulomb's and Rankine's theories
• Earth pressure diagrams for different configurations loading.
Introduction
• Retaining structures such as retaining walls, basement walls, and
abutments of dams commonly are encountered in foundation
engineering as they support slopes of earth masses.
• Proper design and construction of these structures require a
thorough knowledge of the lateral forces that act between the
retaining structures and the soil masses being retained
• These lateral forces are caused by lateral earth pressure.
Gravity type
Stone retaining
wall
Definition
• Lateral earth pressure is the pressure that soil exerts in the horizontal
direction. The lateral earth pressure is important because it affects
the consolidation behaviour and strength of the soil and because it is
considered in the design of geotechnical engineering structures such
as retaining walls, basements, tunnels, deep foundations and braced
excavations
• There are three types of lateral earth pressure, at rest, active and
passive earth pressure
At rest
• Consider a mass of soil shown in Figure on next slide. The mass is
bounded by a frictionless wall of height AB.A soil element located at a
depth z is subjected to a vertical effective pressure ,σ’o, and a
horizontal effective pressure σ’h .There are no shear stresses on the
vertical and horizontal planes of the soil element. \
• Ratio between them is K = Ko = σ’h / σ’o
At rest
• Case 1 If the wall AB is static—that is, if it does not move either to the
right or to the left of its initial position—the soil mass will be in a
state of static equilibrium. In that case, is referred to as the at-rest
earth pressure
• K = Ko = σ’h / σ’o
Active
• Case 2: If the frictionless wall rotates sufficiently about its bottom to a
position of A’B then a triangular soil mass ABC’ adjacent to the wall
will reach a state of plastic equilibrium and will fail sliding down the
plane BC’. At this time, the horizontal
effective stress, will be referred to as
active pressure. Now,
Passive
• Case 3 If the frictionless wall rotates sufficiently about its bottom to a
position
• A’B then a triangular soil mass ABC’ will reach a state of plastic
equilibrium and will fail sliding upward along the plane BC’. The
horizontal effective stress at this time will be σ’h = σ’o
Earth Pressure At-Rest
For loose backfill sand

For dense and compacted backfill sand

• The increase of Ko observed from previous equations is due to
overconsolidation.
• For that reason, Mayne and Kulhawy (1982), after evaluating 171
soils, recommended modified formulae

For fine-grained, normally consolidated soils, Massarsch (1979) suggested the

following equation for Ko:
• For overconsolidated clays, the coefficient of earth pressure at rest
can be approximated as
Distribution of lateral earth pressure
• This Figure shows the distribution of lateral earth pressure at rest on
a wall of height H retaining a dry soil having a unit weight of Ɣ. The
total force per unit length of the wall, Po, is equal to the area of the
pressure diagram, so
Earth Pressure At-Rest for Partially
Submerged Soil
• Figure shows a wall of height H. The groundwater table is located at a
depth H1 below the ground surface, and there is no compensating
water on the other side of the wall. For z <= H1, the lateral earth
pressure at rest can be given as σ’h = KoƔz. The variation of with depth
is shown by triangle ACE in Figure. However, for z >=H1 (i.e., below
the groundwater table), the pressure on the wall is found from the
effective stress and pore water pressure components via the equation
• where Ɣ’ = Ɣsat - Ɣw = the effective unit weight of soil. So, the effective
lateral pressure at rest is
The variation of with depth is shown by CEGB in Figure. Again, the lateral pressure from pore water is
• The force per unit length of the wall can be found from the sum of
the areas of the pressure diagrams in Figures a and b and is equal to
(Figure c)
 Question 1
Find the lateral “at rest” Force Po
on the wall and its location with
respect to the top of the wall.
Sand
Given: Sand Ϫ = 105pcf and Ф = 30
degree and saturated unit weight =
122pcf and c=0.
Practice question
Figure shows a retaining wall that is restrained
from yielding. For problem, determine the
magnitude of the lateral earth force per unit
length of the wall. Also, state the location of
the resultant, measured from the bottom of
the wall. Assume H = 7m , Ф’=38 degree, Ϫ=17
kN/m3 and OCR = 2.5
Active Earth Pressure (Cohesive Soil with
horizontal backfill)
Active Earth Pressure

For derivation details see page 432

“Principles of Geotechnical Engineering”
By Braja.M.Das and
Clicker question
• What will be its form for the other type of soil?
Tension crack
 Depth of tensile crack

For the undrained condition—that is, f 0, Ka = tan ^2 45 = 1, and c = cu

(undrained cohesion)—from abv eq.

So, with time, tensile cracks at the soil–wall interface will develop up to a depth zo
Total Active force per unit length
• The total active force per unit length of the wall can be found from
the area of the total pressure diagram
Considering the clay seperation( Tension crack)

• For calculation of the total active force, common practice is to take

the tensile cracks into account. Because no contact exists between
the soil and the wall up to a depth of zo after the development of
tensile cracks, only the active pressure distribution against the wall
between and and H is considered.
• In this case
Inclined Backfill
Numerical 2
• A vertical wall of 8m height retains sand with Ϫ = 19.6 kN/m^3 and
below with Ϫsat = 20.6 kN/m^3. Water table is at 3m below the GSL
which is horizontal and carries a UDL of 30Kpa. The sand above the
W/T has Ф’ = 35 degree while below 30 degree respectively.
Determine the active thrust on the wall and its application point from
toe (bottom) assuming hydrostatic conditions.
Question 2
• A 21 foot high retaining wall supports a purely cohesive soil (Ф = 0)
with a cohesion of 630 psf and unit weight of 113 pcf. Find
• A) Rankine active earth pressure on the wall
B) Estimate depth of clay from the wall and find the lateral force on
the wall considering the clay separation (tension crack).
Passive Earth pressure
Backfill—Cohesionless Soil with Horizontal
Ground Surface
Backfill—Partially Submerged Cohensionless Soil Supporting a
Surcharge
Backfill—Cohesive Soil with Horizontal Backfill
Coulomb’s Active Pressure
• More than 200 years ago, Coulomb (1776) presented a theory for
active and passive earth pressures against retaining walls. In this
theory, Coulomb assumed that the failure surface is a plane. The wall
friction was taken into consideration. The following sections discuss
the general principles of the derivation of Coulomb’s earth pressure
theory for a cohesionless backfill
Figure
Stability of wall
• FOS against overturning = Resisting moment/Overturning moment
• Should be less than 2

• FOS against sliding = Resisting force / driving force

• Should be less than 2