DR. S & S.S.

GHANDHY
GOVERNMENT ENGINEERING
COLLEGE,SURAT

CIVIL ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT
B.E. SEMESTER-V

Soil Mechanics

Subject Code – 2150609

Topic: Earth Pressure

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Prepared By,

Name Enrollment No.

PATEL PINAL J. 150230106040
PATEL PRINKESH B. 150230106042
PATEL RACHIT S 150230106043
PATEL SAHIL S. 150230106044

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WHAT IS EARTH PRESSURE?

 Calculating lateral earth pressure is

necessary in order to design structures
such as:

 Retaining Walls
 Bridge Abutments
 Bulkheads
 Temporary Earth Support Systems
 Basement Walls 3
USE OF RETAINING WALLS

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USE OF RETAINING WALLS

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 IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING,
IT IS OFTEN NECESSARY TO PREVENT LATERAL
SOIL MOVEMENTS

Cantilever Braced excavation

retaining wall
Anchored sheet pile
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DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS

 Active earth pressure coefficient (Ka): It is the

ratio of horizontal and vertical principal effective
stresses when a retaining wall moves away (by a
small amount) from the retained soil.
 Passive earth pressure coefficient (Kp): It is

the ratio of horizontal and vertical principal

effective stresses when a retaining wall is forced
against a soil mass.
 Coefficient of earth pressure at rest (Ko): It is

the ratio of horizontal and vertical principal

effective stresses when the retaining wall does not
move at all, i.e. it is “at rest”. 7
LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE – BASIC
CONCEPTS
 We will consider the lateral pressure on a vertical wall that
retains soil on one side.
 First, we will consider a drained case, i.e. The shear
strength of the soil is governed by its angle of friction φ.
 In addition, we will make the following assumptions:
– The interface between the wall and the soil is
frictionless.
– The soil surface is horizontal and there are no shear
stresses on horizontal and vertical planes, i.e. The
horizontal and vertical stresses are principal stresses.
– The wall is rigid and extends to an infinite depth in
a dry, homogenous, isotropic soil mass. 8
– The soil is loose and initially in an at-rest state.
LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE THEORY

 There are two classical earth pressure theories.

They are
 1. Coulomb's earth pressure theory.

 2. Rankine's earth pressure theory.

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THE RANKINE THEORY ASSUMES:

 There is no adhesion or friction between the

wall and soil
 Lateral pressure is limited to vertical walls

 Failure (in the backfill) occurs as a sliding

wedge along an assumed failure plane defined
by φ.
 Lateral pressure varies linearly with depth
and the resultant pressure is located one-third
of the height (H) above the base of the wall.
 The resultant force is parallel to the backfill
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surface.
THE COULOMB THEORY IS SIMILAR TO
RANKINE EXCEPT THAT:
 There is friction between the wall and soil and
takes this into account by using a soil-wall
friction angle of δ.
 Note that δ ranges from φ/2 to 2φ/3 and δ =
2φ/3 is commonly used.
 Lateral pressure is not limited to vertical
walls
 The resultant force is not necessarily parallel
to the backfill surface because of the soil-wall
friction value δ. 11
LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE AT
REST CONDITION
 Ifthe wall is rigid and does not move with
the pressure exerted on the wall, the soil
behind the wall will be in a state of elastic
equilibrium.

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LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE FOR AT REST
CONDITION
Element E is subjected to the following pressures.

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 LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE FOR AT REST
CONDITION

 If we consider the backfill is homogeneous then

v and h both increase linearly with depth z.
 In such a case, the ratio of h to v remains
constant with respect to depth, that is

Where, Ko is called the coefficient of earth pressure for the at rest condition or
at rest earth pressure Coefficient.

The lateral earth pressure h acting on the wall at any depth z may
be expressed as 14
LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE FOR AT REST
CONDITION

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COEFFICIENTS OF EARTH PRESSURE FOR
AT REST CONDITION : KO

Type of soil Ip Ko

Loose sand, saturated 0.46

Dense sand, saturated 0.36
Dense sand, dry (e = 0.6) 0.49
Loose sand, dry (e = 0.8) 0.64
Compacted clay 9 0.42
Compacted clay 31 0.60
Organic silty clay, 45 0.57
undisturbed (w{ = 74%)
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FACTORS AFFECTING KO

 The value of Ko depends upon the relative

density of the sand and the process by
which the deposit was formed.
 If this process does not involve artificial
tamping the value of Ko ranges from
about 0.40 for loose sand to 0.6 for dense
sand.
 Tamping the layers may increase it to 0.8.

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DEVELOPMENT OF ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
EARTH PRESSURES

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HORIZONTAL STRESS AS A FUNCTION OF
THE DISPLACEMENT

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