CE 333

Geotechnical Engineering II

LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE

Sultan Mohammad Farooq

Sheikh Sharif Ahmed

Department of Civil Engineering

Chittagong University of Engineering & Technology
 Lateral Earth Pressure

INTRODUCTION
 Vertical or near-vertical slopes of soil are supported
by retaining walls, cantilever sheet-pile walls, sheet-
pile bulkheads, braced cuts, and other, similar
structures.

 The proper design of those structures requires an

estimation of lateral earth pressure. Some of the
purposes for which retaining walls are used are
shown in Fig. 01 and 02.

 Retaining walls may retain water also. The earth

retained may be natural soil or fill.
 Lateral Earth Pressure

INTRODUCTION

Figure 01 Use of Retaining Wall

 Lateral Earth Pressure

INTRODUCTION

Figure 02 Use of Retaining Wall

 Lateral Earth Pressure

INTRODUCTION

Figure 03 Use of Retaining Wall

 Lateral Earth Pressure

INTRODUCTION
Lateral earth pressure is a function of several factors,
such as-

 Type and amount of wall movement

 Shear strength parameters of the soil

 Unit weight of the soil &

 Drainage conditions in the backfill

 Lateral Earth Pressure

INTRODUCTION
 Consider a mass of soil shown in Fig. 04.
 The mass is bounded by a frictionless wall AB of
height H.
 Asoil element located at depth z is subjected to a
vertical effective pressure and a horizontal effective
pressure .
 There are no shear stresses on the vertical and
horizontal planes of the soil element.
 Let us define the ratio of to as a non dimensional
quantity K, or
 Lateral Earth Pressure

INTRODUCTION

Figure 04 Earth Pressure at Rest

 Lateral Earth Pressure

INTRODUCTION
Now, three possible cases may arise concerning the
retaining wall-

Case I : At Rest Earth Pressure

Case II : Active Pressure

Case III: Passive Pressure

 Lateral Earth Pressure

INTRODUCTION
 CASE I : AT REST EARTH PRESSURE

 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(Fig. 04). Here,

Where,
 Lateral Earth Pressure

INTRODUCTION
 CASE II : ACTIVE PRESSURE

 If the frictionless wall rotates sufficiently about its

bottom to a position of A’B (Fig. 05) that is, the wall
tilts away from the soil that is retained; 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, , is
referred to as Active Pressure. Now,

Where,
 Lateral Earth Pressure

INTRODUCTION

Figure 05 Active Earth Pressure

 Lateral Earth Pressure

INTRODUCTION
 CASE III : PASSIVE PRESSURE

 If the frictionless wall rotates sufficiently about its

bottom to a position of A’’B (Fig. 06), that is the wall
is pushed into the soil that is retained; then a
triangular soil mass ABC’’ adjacent to the wall will
reach a state of plastic equilibrium and will fail
sliding upward along the plane BC’’.
 At this time, the horizontal effective stress, , is
referred to as Passive Pressure. Now,

Where,
 Lateral Earth Pressure

INTRODUCTION

Figure 06 Passive Earth Pressure

 Lateral Earth Pressure

INTRODUCTION

Figure 07 Variation of the magnitude of lateral

earth pressure with wall tilt
 Lateral Earth Pressure

LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE AT REST

 At rest earth pressure-

Where,

For normally consolidated soil, the relation for K0 (Jaky,

1944) is-
 Lateral Earth Pressure

LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE AT REST

 Forover consolidated soil, the at-rest earth pressure
coefficient may be expressed as (Mayne and Kulhawy,
1982)-

Where, OCR = Over consolidation ratio

 Lateral Earth Pressure

RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

ASSUMPTIONS

 The stress conditions in soil are at a state of plastic

equilibrium i.e. every point in the soil mass is on the
verge of failure.

 The soil mass is bounded by a frictionless wall that

extends to an infinite depth.
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RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

Figure 08 Rankine’s Active Earth Pressure

 Lateral Earth Pressure

RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

Figure 09 Derivation of Rankine’s Active Earth

Pressure (Mohr’s Circle)
 Lateral Earth Pressure

RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

 Derivation of in terms of

 Figure 08 shows a soil mass that is bounded by a

frictionless wall AB, which extends to an infinite
depth.
 The vertical and horizontal effective principal
stresses on a soil element at a depth z are
andrespectively.
 If the wall is not allowed to move, then, .
 The initial stress condition in the soil element can be
represented by the Mohr’s circlea in figure 09.
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RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

 Derivation of in terms of

 However, if the wall AB is allowed to move away

from the soil mass gradually, the horizontal principal
stress will decrease.
 Ultimately a state will be reached when the stress
condition in the soil element can be represented by
the Mohr’s circle b, the state of plastic equilibrium,
and failure of the soil will occur.
 This situation represents Rankine’s Active State, and
the effective pressure on the vertical plane (which is
a principal plane) is Rankine’s Active Earth Pressure.
 Lateral Earth Pressure

RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

Figure 09 Derivation of Rankine’s Active Earth

Pressure (Mohr’s Circle)
 Lateral Earth Pressure

RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

 Derivation of in terms of

From figure 09,

But

and
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RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

 Derivation of in terms of

So

or

or
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RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

 Derivation of in terms of

But

and

So
 Lateral Earth Pressure

RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

 Derivation of in terms of

The variation of with depth is shown in figure 08.

For cohesionless soils, c’=0
and

The ratio of to is called the Co-efficient of Rankine’s

Active Earth Pressure and is given by-
 Lateral Earth Pressure

RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

 Derivation of in terms of

So, the equation for Rankine’s Active Earth Pressure

can be written as-
 Lateral Earth Pressure

RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

Figure 10 Distribution of Rankine’s Active Earth

Pressure
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RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

Depth of Tensile Crack

 From the pressure distribution diagram of Rankine’s

Active Earth Pressure, a negative portion is
observed.

 That part is called Tensile Crack and it does not

contribute to the active pressure on the wall.

 Actually, the maximum unsupported height of the

soil is the depth of tensile crack.
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RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

 Depth of Tensile Crack

 The depth of tensile crack can be obtained by

setting the active pressure zero at the active
pressure equation.

If then-

Or,
 Lateral Earth Pressure

RANKINE’S THEORY OF ACTIVE PRESSURE

Figure 10 Distribution of Rankine’s Active Earth

Pressure
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RANKINE’S THEORY OF PASSIVE PRESSURE

 Derivation of in terms of

Similarly, the equation for Rankine’sPassive Earth

Pressure can be derived and written as-

Where,

And is called the Co-efficient of Rankine’s Passive Earth

Pressure.
 Lateral Earth Pressure

RANKINE’S THEORY OF PASSIVE PRESSURE

Figure 11 Derivation of Rankine’s Passive Earth

Pressure (Mohr’s Circle)
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RANKINE’S THEORY OF PASSIVE PRESSURE

Figure 12 Distribution of Rankine’s Passive Earth

Pressure