Foundation engineering by Bharat Aryal 12/15/2022

FOUNDATION ENGINEERING

Bharat Aryal
M.Sc. In Geo-Technical Engineering
Pulchowk Campus

Lateral Earth Pressure

Lateral Earth Pressure

The pressure that soil exerts in the horizontal direction is the lateral earth pressure.

It is a function of type and amount of wall movement, shear strength parameters of

the soil, unit weight of the soil and the drainage conditions of the backfill.

At rest condition Active conditions Passive conditions

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Foundation engineering by Bharat Aryal 12/15/2022

Variation of Lateral Earth Pressure

• In practice retaining wall is generally constructed then the soil backfilled.

• During the process of backfilling, a certain amount of wall-deformation away from

backfill will have taken place.

• Since the minimum deformation required to produce the active case is quite small, a
retaining wall is designed to resist only active thrust.

Soil Amount of translation at top

Cohesionless (dense) 0.001H-0.002H
Cohesionless (loose) 0.002H-0.004H
Cohesive (stiff) 0.01H-0.02H
Cohesive (soft) 0.02H-0.05H

*H = height of the wall

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Foundation engineering by Bharat Aryal 12/15/2022

Earth Pressure at Rest

In the natural state, an element of soil at a depth z below ground surface is
not subjected to any strain condition known as ‘at rest condition’ and can be
expressed as;

𝑝 =𝑘 𝜎

The total pressure per length acting over

a height of H of retaining wall is equal to
the area of lateral pressure distribution
diagram.

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𝑃 = 𝑘 𝛾𝐻
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𝑝 acts at a height of H/3 from base.

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Let ϵx be the strain in the horizontal direction at depth z on an element of soil and let
the Poisson’s ratio and elastic modulus be μ and E, respectively. The earth pressure
at rest corresponds to a state of zero lateral strain (ϵx = 0).

For plane strain condition, ϵ is given by,

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𝜖 = [𝜎 − 𝜇 𝜎 + 𝜎 ]
𝐸
When, 𝜖 = 0, 𝜎 = 𝜎

𝜎 is designated as 𝑝

Hence, coefficient of earth pressure at rest, 𝑝 𝜇

𝑘 = =
𝜎 1−𝜇

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Foundation engineering by Bharat Aryal 12/15/2022

Soil 𝒌𝟎
Dense sand 0.40 – 0.50
Loose sand 0.45 – 0.50
Mechanically compacted sand 0.8 – 1.5
Normally consolidated clay 0.5 – 0.6
Over consolidated clay 1.0 – 4.0
Typical values of 𝑘

• For coarse-grained soils (Jaky, 1944)

𝒌𝟎 = 𝟏 − 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝝓′
• For fine-grained, normally consolidated soils (Massarsch, 1979)
𝒌𝟎 = 𝟎. 𝟒𝟒 + 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟒𝟐 𝐏𝐈
• Brooker and Ireland (1965),
𝒌𝟎 = (𝟎. 𝟗𝟓 − 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝝓 ) + 𝟎. 𝟏𝟓
• For over-consolidated soils:
𝒌𝟎 𝑶𝑪 = 𝒌𝟎(𝑵𝑪) 𝑶𝑪𝑹 7

Question
For the retaining wall shown below, determine the lateral earth force at rest
per unit length of the wall. Also determine the location of the resultant
force. Assume OCR =1,

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Foundation engineering by Bharat Aryal 12/15/2022

Rankine’s Earth Pressure Theory

Following were the assumptions made by Rankine for
the derivation of earth pressure

• The backfill is isotropic, homogenous and

cohesionless.

• The soil is in state of plastic equilibrium during

active and passive earth pressure conditions.

• The rupture surface is planar surface which is

obtained by considering plastic equilibrium of soil.

• The backfill surface is horizontal.

• The back of the wall is vertical and smooth.

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Rankine’s Theory: Active Earth Pressure

The minimum value of 𝜎 ′ defined as the active earth pressure 𝜎 ′ or 𝑝 .

From above Mohr’s circle,
𝜎 −𝑝 𝜎 1 + sin 𝜙′
sin 𝜙′ = ⇒ =
𝜎 +𝑝 𝑝 1 − sin 𝜙′

∴ 𝑝 = 𝐾 𝜎 = 𝐾 𝛾𝑧
Where, 𝐾 is the coefficient of active earth pressure = = tan (45 − ) 10

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Foundation engineering by Bharat Aryal 12/15/2022

Rankine’s Theory: Passive Earth Pressure

When the wall moves away from backfill, there will be an increase in the horizontal
pressure while σv’ remains constant.
From above Mohr’s circle,
𝑝 −𝜎 ′ 𝜎 1 − sin 𝜙′
sin 𝜙′ = ⇒ =
𝑝 +𝜎 ′ 𝑝 1 + sin 𝜙′

∴ 𝑝 = 𝐾 𝜎 = 𝐾 𝛾𝑧
Where, 𝐾 is the coefficient of passive earth pressure = = tan (45 + ) 11

Rankine’s earth pressure –cohesionless backfill

a) Dry backfill with no surcharge

Total Thrust = 𝐾𝛾𝐻

Where 𝐾 = 𝐾 for active thrust and 𝐾 = 𝐾 for

passive thrust.

Total thrust acts at H/3 from the base.

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Foundation engineering by Bharat Aryal 12/15/2022

Rankine’s earth pressure –cohesionless backfill

b) Effect of uniform surcharge
If a uniformly distributed load of intensity q/unit area is acting over the entire
surface of backfill, then earth pressure at any depth is increased by 𝐾𝑞.

Total Thrust = 𝐾𝛾𝐻 + 𝐾𝑞𝐻 13

Rankine’s earth pressure –cohesionless backfill

c) Submerged backfill

If water table is present, we have to remember to use effective stress not total
stress also lateral stress due to water should be considered.

Earth pressure at base of wall = 𝐾[𝛾𝐻 + 𝛾 −𝛾 𝐻 ]+𝛾 𝐻

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Foundation engineering by Bharat Aryal 12/15/2022

Question
For the retaining wall shown below, assume that wall can yield sufficiently
to develop active state. Use Rankine’s active pressure theory and determine
a) active force per meter of the wall, and
b) The location of the resultant line of action

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