142

CAN. GEOTECH. J. VOL. 12, 1975

New Method for Measurement of Lateral Earth Pressure in Cohesive Soils

K. RAINERMASSARSCH
Royal Institute of Technology, Division of Soil and Rock Mechanics, S-10044 Stockholm 70, Sweden
Received June 28, 1974
Accepted October 17, 1974

A new method is described by which the total lateral stress in cohesive soils can be measured.
When used in combination with pore pressure measurements, the lateral effective stress, the
stress change, and the coefficient of lateral earth pressure at rest, K O ,can be calculated. The basic
concept of the earth pressure cell and its installation, as described in this report, are simple.
On dkcrit une nouvelle mbthode permettant la mesure des contraintes latbrales totales dans les
sols cohkrents. Lorsqu'on l'utilise concurremment B des mesures de pressions interstitielles, les
contraintes latbrales effectives, les variations de contraintes et le coefficient de pression des
terres au repos K Opeuvent &trecalculbs. Le concept de base de la cellule de pression des terres
dCcrite dans cet article de m&meque I'installation de la cellule sont simples.
[Traduit par la Revue]

Introduction
The knowledge of the in situ stresses is of
considerable interest particularly for cohesive
soils. These stresses influence the stress-strain
performance of soils at loading or unloading.
The behavior of soils is, for example, affected
by the geological history of a soil deposit. If
the ground surface is reasonably level, the
vertical stress is equal to the overburden pressure which can be calculated accurately. On
the other hand the corresponding lateral stress
depends for cohesive soils on the stress history,
and its value is limited by the stress at active
and passive failure (active and passive earth
pressure). The relationship between the vertical and the horizontal effective stress is usually
expressed by the coefficient KO = a a 1 / q ' ,
known as the coefficient of earth pressure at
rest.
The determination of lateral stresses is of
importance in the design of structures supported on or in the soil and for the control of
soil behavior during and after the construction.
The solution of many geotechnical problems
depends on the deformations at working loads
rather than the behavior at failure. The knowledge of the in situ stresses in the soil before
the construction are therefore of interest in
many cases. For example, the settlements in
and around an excavation depend on the
initial state of stress prior to unloading. If the
KO ratio is small, for example less than 0.6,
even a small increase of the stress level can
Can. Geotech. J., 12,142 (1975)

cause large deformations due to the high initial

shear stresses in the soil.
Results from laboratory tests on normally
consolidated clay have been published by for
example Wroth (1972). The results agree
reasonably well with the following relationship
proposed by Jaky ( 1944).

KO = 1 - sin 4'
Laboratory measurements on cohesive soils
indicate values of KO less than 0.6 (Kenney
1967). From in situ measurements in cohesive
soils only a few results are available. The installation of a measuring instrument in the soil
causes a change of the state of stress. The
results thus only roughly indicate the real stress
conditions. Kenney (1967) has reported some
results from field tests with a large instrumented
open pipe. This method is, however, time consuming and therefore expensive.
The hydraulic fracturing method for in situ
measurements of lateral earth pressure was
introduced by Bjerrum et al. ( 1972). Andersen
et al. (1972) report results obtained by this
method which agree well with those from the
instrumented steel pipe. However, this simple
method is limited to normally consolidated
clays and is affected by a number of uncertainties such as the direction of the crack, the
influence of fissures and pockets of permeable
material, etc.
An interesting method for measurements of
in situ lateral stresses has been developed by

NOTES

FIG.1. Earth pressure cell with protection frame.

Baguelin et al. (1972). A similar technique

has also been developed in England and is
described in detail by Wroth and Huges
(1973). With this special instrument the soil
is removed around the measuring unit without
unloading the walls of the borehole. The instrument has been tested in the laboratory and in
the field in soft soils.

Test Equipment
At the Royal Institute of Technology in
Stockholm a new method for determination of
the lateral earth pressure has been developed,
using the well-known Glotzl measuring system. A spade-like, very thin (4 mm) cell with
large surface area (10 x 20 cm) is pushed
down into the ground. During installation, the
cell is protected by a steel casing, Fig. 1. The
unit can even be pushed through layers of
soft silt and loose sand. About 30 cm above
the intended measuring level, the protection
frame is withdrawn while the cell is pushed

down. By this procedure the cell can be installed in soft soils also at greater depths and
readings of the total lateral earth pressure can
be taken after equilibrium is reached.
The thin steel cell, which is filled with oil,
is connected to an air operated valve and a
simple pump, Fig. 2. By increasing slowly the
air pressure, the sensitive membrane in the
valve will open at a pressure which slightly
exceeds the oil pressure in the cell. This pressure can be read on a manometer. The maximum deflection of the membrane is about
5 pm and is thus negligible. This deflection
corresponds to about 1/30 000 of the diameter
of the cell. The volume increase of the cell
during the measurement procedure is very
small and does not affect the readings. The
equipment is simple to operate.

Field Tests
In order to test the earth pressure cell, an
extensive research program was carried out, the

CAN. GEOTECH. J. VOL. 12, 1975

COMPRESSED AIR

RETURN L I N E

S T E E L W I R E S FOR
PRESSURE L I N E

WITHDRAWING OF
EARTH PRESSURE CELL

FIG.2. Equipment for measurements of total lateral stresses.

JNORAiNEO SHEAR
STRENGTH

WATER CONTENT %

k Pa

fNSIVlTY
:ONE I

1.97

ORGANIC CLAY
GREY CLAY
SULPH FLECKS

150
1.21
108

BROWN -GREY
VARVED CLAY
SULPHIOE
FLEKS AN0
5 BANDS

1.00

d
10

c uv

DRY CRUST

2 GREEN-GREY
;; SLIGHTLY

3
4

OCR
f'/

1.00
1.00

OCCASIONAL
SILT SEAMS
AN0 LAYERS

1.00
1.00

NATURAL WATER CONTENT

VANE TEST

LIQUID LIMIT ( CASAGRANDE APPARATUS 1

FALL-CONE METHOO

LIQUID LIMIT ( FALL CONE METHOO I

PLASTICITY LIMIT

FIG. 3.

Soil conditions at test site.

equipment was tested in the field by installing

earth pressure cells under a test embankment
and these results are reported herein. Later,
tests were carried out at five sites in Sweden
with the new cell and compared with the hydraulic fracturing method. These results are
under publication. The new instrument was
tested at the SGI test field at S k i Edeby located
about 30 km west of Stockholm. The soil conditions at this site are well-known from earlier
investigations. The soil consists of normally
consolidated, glacial and postglacial clay as

shown in Fig. 3. The postglacial clay close to

the surface is slightly organic and overconsolidated. The shear strength decreases from
20 kPa just below the dry crust at the surface
to 5 kPa at 5 m depth. In the varved glacial
clay below, the shear strength increases with
depth. The sensitivity varies from 8 close to the
surface to about 23 at 8 m depth. The water
content for the postglacial clay is about 110%
and about 70% for the glacial clay.
Measurements were made in connection with
a full-scale load test. The load cell was installed

NOTES
LOAD OF EMBANKMENT

kPa

30

A f f v = 2 7 kPa

ffhh75 k h
.&?=I2
kPa

A f f h h 1 5 kPa

f'
a

20

11

10

HORIZONTAL
TOTAL LOAD

HORIZONTAL DEFORMATION

g rnrn
+
0
a

t:
0

JUNE

FIG. 4.

JULY

AUG

SEPT

OCT

NOV

DEC

JAN

Stress change and displacement due to loading.

about 3 months before the placement of the

fill. A piezometer of vibrating wire type and an
earth pressure cell were placed 5 m below the
ground surface at the edge of the planned test
fill, as well as an inclinometer pipe. The pressure cell was first pushed down into the ground
without any protection and then withdrawn to
check the function of the unit during the installation. It turned out that the installation slightly
affected the zero reading due to bending of the
cell when penetrating the dry crust. Therefore,
the new procedure for installation was developed as described above, where the cell is
completely protected during installation. Additional earth pressure cells were installed later.
The installation of the cell in the soil causes
an increase of the lateral earth pressure which
decreases slightly with time and was approximately constant after 4 days. This lateral pressure was used to calculate the coefficient of
lateral earth pressure at rest. At 5 m depth,
KOwas 0.58-0.62.
Vertical paper/plastic drains (Geodrain)
were installed close to the load cell during the
following month which explains the slight increase of the lateral earth pressure with time,
Fig. 4. An embankment, 1.5 m high, was
placed in layers about one month later, the
total overburden pressure thereby increased by
27 IcPa. The calculated factor of safety for the
embankment with respect to the bearing capacity using the Fellenius slip circle method was
about 1.9 with an average shear strength of
7f,1 = 9.5 kPa. However, when using the average shear strength as determined by vane tests,
a safety factor of 1.4 was obtained.

During the placement of the fill the lateraI

earth pressure, the pore pressure and the lateral
displacement were measured continuously. The
pore pressure increased somewhat faster than
the total lateral stress and the maximum pore
pressure reached about 90% of the measured
total lateral earth pressure as indicated in Fig.
4. The measured lateral earth pressure is about
100% greater than the lateral total earth pressure as calculated from elasticity theory (Newmark 1942). This large increase can perhaps
be explained by the low factor of safety with
respect to the ultimate bearing capacity of the
soil causing a concentration of shear stress in
a potential slip surface. The stress changes
during loading are plotted in the diagram shown
in Fig. 5. The inclinometer measurements indicated a significant lateral displacement under
the edge of the fill. The movement continued
o

TOTAL STRESSES
EFFECTIVE STRESSES

50

100 k P a

LATERAL PRESSURE u h , a h '

FIG. 5. Stresspath.

146

CAN. GEOTECH. J. VOL. 12. 1975

Acknowledgments
The author acknowledges the valuable contributions of Mr. A. Fredriksson in developing
the installation equipment. The project was
partially supported by the Swedish Council for
Building Research, Grant C 974.

also after the embankment had been placed.

The total lateral stress was constant for about
4 months but the pore pressure decreased immediately after the end of loading, indicating
an increase of the lateral effective stress.

Conclusions
( 1 ) A new method for the measurement of
in situ lateral earth pressure in soft clay has
been developed. By using a protection frame
during the installation, the cell can be installed
also at greater depths. Even layers of sand and
silt can be penetrated with this method.
( 2 ) The installation of the cell disturbs the
soil which dissipates within about 1 week.
(3) From the stress and pore pressure measurements, the coefficient of earth pressure at
rest can be calculated.
( 4 ) From lateral total stress and pore pressure measurements the coefficient of earth
pressure at 5 m depth has been calculated to
0.58-0.62.
(5) The increase of the lateral total stress
measured under the edge of the test embankment exceeded the stress calculated by elasticity
theory by 100%.

ANDERSEN,
K. H., DI BIAGIO,E., and BJERRUM,
L. 1972.
Written discussions. Proc 5th Europ. Conf. Soil
Mech. Found. Eng. 2,97-98.
BAGUELIN,F., JEZEQUEL,J., LEMEE, E. and LE
MEHAUTE,A. 1972. Expansion cylindrical probes in
cohesive soils. A.S.C.E., Soil Mech. Found. Div.
98(SM11). pp. 1129-1 142.
K. H. 1972. In sit11 meaBJERRUM,
L., and ANDERSEN,
surement of lateral pressures in clay. Proc. 5th Europ.
Conf. Soil Mech. Found. Eng. 2, pp. 11-20.
JAKY,J. 1944. The coefficient of earth pressure at rest.
(Hungarian). Magyar Mtrnok 6s EpitCsz Egylet Kozlonye.
KENNEY,T. C. 1967. Field measurements of in situ
stresses in quick clays. R o c . Geotech. Conf. Oslo, 1,
pp. 49-55.
NEWMARK,
N. M. 1942. Influence charts for computation
of stresses in elastic foundations. Bulletin, University
of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, Bulletin Series No. 338,
Vol. 40.
WROTH,C. P. 1972. General theories of earth pressures
and deformations. General rep., Session 1, Proc. 5th
Europ. Conf. Soil Mech. Found. Eng. 2, pp. 33-52.
WROTH,C. P., and HUGES,J . M. 0. 1973. An instrument
for the in sit11 measurement of the properties of soft
clays. Proc. 8th Int. Conf. Soil Mech. Found. Eng. 1,
pp. 487494.

Stability of Slopes in Anisotropic, Nonhomogeneous Soils

W. F. CHEN
Fritz Laboratory, Lehigh University, Bed~lehem,Pennsylvania 18015

N. SNITBHAN
Department of Ci\il Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015
AND

H . Y . FANG
Fritz Laboratory, Lehigh Uniwrsity,Bethlehem, Pennsyhwnia 18015
Received August 21, 1974
Accepted October 28, 1974
The upper bound technique of limit analysis has been found to be very successful in analyzing
the stability of cuttings in normally consolidated clays. However, most soils in their natural states
exhibit some anisotropy with respect to shear strength, and some nonhomogeneity with respect
to depth. It is difficult to obtain the solution based on the classical limit equilibrium analysis with
the assumed noncircular failure plane with such soil properties included. This paper establishes
an expression for the stability factor N s , based on the upper bound technique of limit analysis
which yields a close-formed solution for sections in which the following conditions are considered: ( a ) log-spiral failure-plane, through and below toe; (b) non-homogeneity; (c) anisotropy;
and (d) general slope.
Can. Geotech. J., 12, 146 (1975)