Lateral Earth Pressure

1
 Contents
• Geotechnical applications
• K0, active & passive states
• Rankine’s earth pressure theory

2
Geotechnical Application - Lateral Support
In geotechnical engineering, it is often necessary to
prevent lateral soil movements.

Tie rod
Anchor

Sheet pile

Cantilever Braced excavation Anchored sheet pile

retaining wall 3
 Lateral Support
We have to estimate the lateral soil pressures acting
on these structures, to be able to design them.

Gravity Retaining Soil nailing

Reinforced earth wall
wall 4
Soil Nailing

5
 Sheet Pile

Sheet piles marked for driving

6
 Sheet Pile

Sheet pile wall

7
 Sheet Pile

During installation Sheet pile wall

8
 Lateral Support

Reinforced earth walls are increasingly becoming popular.

geosynthetics

9
 Lateral Support
filled with
Crib walls have been used in Queensland. soil
Good drainage & allow plant growth.
Looks good. Interlocking
stretchers
and headers

10
Retaining Walls - Applications

Road
Train

11
Retaining Walls - Applications

highway

12
Retaining Walls - Applications

High-rise building

basement wall

13
 Gravity Retaining Walls

cement mortar
plain concrete or
stone masonry
cobbles

Theyrely
They relyon
ontheir
theirself
selfweight
weightto
to
supportthe
support thebackfill
backfill

14
 Earth Pressure at Rest
In a homogeneous natural soil deposit,
GL

v’
 h’ X

the ratio h’/v’ is a constant known as coefficient of earth pressure

at rest (K0).
Importantly, at K0 state, there are no lateral
strains.

15
 Estimating K0
For normally consolidated clays and granular /
cohesionless soils,
K0 = 1 – sin ’ (Jaky formula)

For overconsolidated clays,

K0,overconsolidated = K0,normally consolidated OCR0.5

OCR = Overconsolidation Ratio

OCR = Preconsolidation pressure / Present effective

overburden pressure
16
 Coefficient of Lateral Earth Pressure K0

K0 = 1 – sin  ’ (Jaky formula)

o Gives good results when the backfill is loose
sand.
For a dense, compacted sand backfill, may grossly underestimate
o lateral earth pressure
the at
rest.

For normally consolidated clays, K0 = 0.95 – sin  ’

From elastic analysis,
Fine-grained soils
K0  
1

 Distribution of Lateral Earth Pressure at Rest on a
Wall

The total force per unit length of the wall, Po

P0 for Partially Submerged Soil

=
+
 Rankine’s Earth Pressure Theory
( Assumption : Frictionless retaining wall )
Active/Passive Earth Pressures - in granular /
cohesionless soils

Wall moves
away from soil
Wall moves A
Active Earth Pressures
towards soil

Passive Earth Pressures B

smooth wall ( Frictionless wall )

Let’s look at the soil elements A and B during the wall movement.
19
 Active Earth Pressure
- in granular /
cohesionless soils
v’ = z
Initially, there is no lateral movement.
v’ z
h’ h’ = K0 v’ = K0 z
A

As the wall moves away from the soil,

v’ remains the same; and
h’ decreases till failure occurs.

Activestate
Active state

20
 Active Earth Pressure
- in granular /
cohesionless soils
As the wall moves away from the soil,


e l ope
re env
u
fail Initially (K0 state)
Failure (Active state)

v’ 
active earth
pressure decreasing h’

21
 Active Earth Pressure
- in granular /
cohesionless soils


l ope
e
env
ure
fail

WJM Rankine
 (1820-1872)

[h’]active v’ 

[ h ' ]active  K A v '

Rankine’s coefficient of
1  sin  active earth pressure
KA   tan 2 ( 45   / 2)
1  sin 
22
 Active Earth Pressure
- in granular /
cohesionless soils
 Failure plane is at
45 + /2 to horizontal v’
l ope
env
e h ’
45 + /2
fail
ure A

 90+

[h’]active v’ 

23
 Active Earth Pressure
- in granular /
cohesionless soils
As the wall moves away from the soil,

h’ decreases till failure occurs.

 h’ K0 state
v’ z
Active
h’ A state

wall movement

24
Active Earth Pressure
- in cohesive soils

Follow the same steps as

for granular soils. Only
difference is that c  0.

[ h ' ]active  K A v '2c K A

Everything else the same

as for granular soils.
25
 Passive Earth Pressure
- in granular /
cohesionless soils

Initially, soil is in K0 state.

As the wall moves towards the soil,
v’ remains the same, and
v’
h’ increases till failure occurs.
h ’ B
Passive state

26
 Passive Earth Pressure
- in granular /
cohesionless soils
As the wall moves towards the soil,

Initially (K0 state)
Failure (Active state) e l ope
re env
u
fail
passive earth
pressure

v’ 

increasing h’
27
 Passive Earth Pressure
- in granular /
cohesionless soils


l ope
e
env
ure
fail


v’ [h’]passive 

[ h ' ] passive  K P v '

Rankine’s coefficient of
1  sin  passive earth pressure
KP   tan 2 ( 45   / 2)
1  sin 
28
 Passive Earth Pressure
- in granular /
cohesionless soils
 Failure plane is at
45 - /2 to horizontal v’
l ope
45 - /2 env
e h ’
fail
ure A

 90+

[h’]passive 
v’

29
 Passive Earth Pressure
- in granular /
cohesionless soils
As the wall moves towards the soil,
h’ increases till failure occurs.

 h’ Passive state
v’
h ’ B
K0 state

wall movement

30
Passive Earth Pressure
- in cohesive soils

Follow the same steps as

for granular soils. Only
difference is that c  0.

[ h ' ] passive  K P v '2c K P

Everything else the same

as for granular soils.
31
 h’
Passive state

Active state
K0 state

Wall movement
(not to scale) 32
 Rankine’s Earth Pressure Theory
- in cohesive soils
1  sin 
[ h ' ]active  K A v '2c K A KA 
1  sin 
 tan 2 ( 45   / 2)

1  sin 
[ h ' ] passive  K P v '2c K P KP 
1  sin 
 tan 2 ( 45   / 2)

 Assumes smooth wall

 Applicable only on vertical walls

- in granular / cohesionless soils

C=0
33
 Earth Pressure Distribution
- in granular /
cohesionless soils
[h’]active
PA and PP are the
resultant active
and passive thrusts
on the wall

[h’]passive H

PA=0.5 KAH2

h PP=0.5 KPh2

KPh KAH
34
 FORCES ACTING ON A WALL
- in granular /
cohesionless soils

KaqH
½ Kpg’H2 H ½ Kag’H2 ½ gwhw2
H
hw
H/2
H/3 H/3 hw/3

Kpg’H Kag’H gwhw Kaq

(a) Passive (b) Active (c) Hydrostatic pressure (d) Surface stress

35
Rankine’s Lateral Earth Pressure for A Sloping Backfill &
A Sloping Wall Face

cos(    )
cos(    ) 1  sin 2  '2 sin  ' cos  a H Ho
Ka  cos  cos
cos 2  (cos   sin 2  ' sin 2  )
b
cos(    ) 1  sin  '2 sin  ' cos  a
2
Kp  H
cos 2  (cos   sin 2  ' sin 2  ) P
h x
 '  1 1  sin   Ho
 a  45    sin  
2 2 2  sin  '  H/3
 '  1 1  sin   q
 p  45    sin  
2 2 2  sin  ' 
 sin  ' sin  a 
 a  tan 1  
 1  sin  ' cos  a 

 sin  ' sin  p 

 p  tan 1  
 1  sin  ' cos  
 p 

36
Rankine’s Lateral Earth Pressure for A Sloping
Backfill & A Vertical Wall Face

In the case of the wall with a vertical face, Ka and Kp can be simplified to
the following equation:

1  cos   cos 2   cos 2  ' 

Ka   cos    b
Kp  cos   cos   cos  ' 
2 2
 
P
b
And, the lateral earth forces act in a direction
parallel to the soil surface (i.e. at b angle).
q

37
Coulomb’s Earth Pressure Theory
(Consider friction between wall face and backfilling
cohesionless soils)
Modified Coulomb’s lateral earth pressure coefficients :
cos 2 ( ' )
Ka  2 b
  sin( ' ) sin( '  ) 1/ 2 
cos  cos(   ) 1  
2
 
  cos(   ) cos(   )   P
h d
cos 2 ( ' ) Ho
Kp  2
  sin( ' ) sin( '  ) 1/ 2  Ho/3
cos  cos(   ) 1  
2
 
  cos(   ) cos(   )   q

Where d = wall friction, f’ = soil internal friction. Fig. 2.13

 (sin  ' cos  )1/ 2 
The inclination of the slip plane to the horizontal is: tan    1/ 2 
 tan  '
 cos  '  sin( ' ) 
Where positive sign refers to active state (i.e. qa), and negative sign refers to passive
state (i.e. qp).

38
 Coulomb’s Earth Pressure Theory
For a large d (i.e. d > f’/3), the passive pressure is overestimated due to the
wall friction causes the slip plane to be curved. Thus, the a correction factor
should be applied to the Kp:

        d/f'        
f' -0.7 -0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0
15 0.96 0.93 0.91 0.88 0.85 0.83 0.8 0.78
20 0.94 0.9 0.86 0.82 0.79 0.75 0.72 0.68
25 0.91 0.86 0.81 0.76 0.71 0.67 0.62 0.57
30 0.88 0.81 0.75 0.69 0.63 0.57 0.52 0.47
35 0.84 0.75 0.67 0.6 0.54 0.48 0.42 0.36
40 0.78 0.68 0.59 0.51 0.44 0.38 0.32 0.26

Active Lateral Earth Pressure PA=0.5 KAH2

Passive Lateral Earth Pressure PP=0.5 KPh2

39
Application of Lateral Earth Pressures to Retaining Walls
A) Stability of Rigid Retaining Walls
(a) Checking for translational:
T
( FS )T   1.5
PaH
Where, PaH = lateral active force pushing against the wall, and
T = sliding resistance at the base
= Rz tanf’b (for effective stress analysis)
= swB (for total stress analysis)
Whereby Rz = resultant vertical force
f’b = interface friction angle between wall base and soil,
≈ 0.5 to 0.67f’
sw = wall adhesion ≈ 0.5cu or 50kPa which ever lower
B = horizontal width of the base

40
Pa : Active lateral force
Pav : Vertical component of the active lateral force
PaH : Horizontal component of the active lateral force

Ws Pa Pa
PaV PaV
Ws
PaH PaH
Ww Ww
B B
Gravity wall Cantilever wall

(Ww  Ws  PaV ) tan  'b

( FS )T  For effective stress analysis
PaH
s B
( FS )T  w For total stress analysis
PaH

41
(b) Checking for rotation :

xa
xs xa
Pa Pa
xw Ws xs
PaV xw PaV
Ws
PaH PaH
Ww za Ww za
B B
x x
Gravity wall Cantilever wall
The rotation of the wall about its toe is satisfied if the resultant vertical force
lies within the middle third of the base (i.e. B/3 ≤ x ≤ 2B/3).

42
 Center line
B/6 B/6
e e
B/2
Ww xw  Ws xs  PaV xa  PaH z a
x
Ww  Ws  PaV B
x
B/3 2B/3
The wall is safe against rotation if Safe zone
B/3 ≤ x ≤ 2B/3, the eccentricity of the resultant vertical
load, e must be ≤ B/6; whereby, e = |(B/2- x )|

43
(c) Checking for bearing capacity:

The maximum pressure imposed on the soil at the base of the wall must not
exceed the allowable soil bearing capacity, that is:

 max  qa (FS)B = qu/rmax > 3

Whereby smax is the maximum vertical stress imposed = Rz/A + Rz e(B/2)/I, and
qa is the allowable soil bearing capacity.

(d) Checking for deep seated failure:

We will discuss deep seated failure in Chapter of Stability of Slope.

44
(e) Checking for seepage:

To avoid liquefaction:

imax  icr /( FS ) S
imax : maximum hydraulic gradient developed under seepage
icr : the critical hydraulic gradient in soil
(FS)S : the factor of safety for seepage and is conventionally > 3.

To avoid seepage related failures, adequate drainage should be installed in the

backfill to dissipate excess pore-water pressures quickly. For this purpose,
coarse-grained soils are preferable for the backfill.

45