LATERAL EARTH

PRESSURE
GEO-TECHNICAL ENGINEERING-II
 SUBMITTED TO: Engr. Ma’am Hufsa Kanwal

SUBMITTED BY :
 2018-CE-11 Hamza Iftikhar
 2018-CE-12 Hafsa Tayyab
 2018-CE-13 Muhammad Sadam
 2018-CE-14 Usman Ashfaq
 2018-CE-15 Abuzar Ghaffari
Session: 2018-2022
Semester: 7th
Course: Geotechnical Engineering-II
Department: Civil Engineering

U.C.E.&T B.Z.U., MULTAN

 LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE

• Lateral earth pressure is the pressure that soil exerts in

the horizontal direction .

• The lateral earth pressure is important because it affects

the consolidation behavior and strength of the soil
because it is considered in the design of geotechnical
engineering structures such as retaining walls ,
basements, tunnels, deep foundations and braced
excavations.
 Why We Study Lateral Earth Pressure?

Lateral Earth Pressure is an important parameter for the design of bridge

abutment, different types of retaining walls (such as gravity retaining
walls, cantilever walls , buttresses), sheet piles and other retaining
structures.

It is important because it affects the consolidation behavior and strength

of the soil also because it is considered in the design of retaining walls,
basements, tunnels etc.
 Lateral Earth Pressure
The magnitude of lateral earth pressure depends upon:

1. Shear strength characteristics of soil

2. Lateral strain conditions
3. Pore water pressure
4.  Groundwater conditions in the backfill, such as depth of water table
5.  Depth of the retaining wall, i.e. the height of the backfill to be
retained
6. Inclination of the backfill surface with the horizontal.
 Lateral Earth Pressure And Wall Movement

• Lateral earth pressure are the direct result of horizontal stresses in the
soil.
• In order to understand the lateral earth pressure we have to define the
Coefficient of lateral earth pressure, K.
 Coefficient (K)

It is defined as the ratio of the horizontal effective stress, σh to the

vertical effective stress σv.

K=σh/σv
 Lateral Earth Pressure

There are three states of lateral earth pressure

a) Earth pressure at rest. (K0)

b) Active earth pressure. (Ka)
c) Passive earth pressure. (Kp)
 Earth Pressure At Rest

When there is no movement of retaining wall and soil mass then the
pressure exerts by the soil on retaining wall is called earth pressure
at rest.

At rest earth pressure occur when there is no wall rotation.

• For example: basement wall.
Earth Pressure At Rest

 
 Earth Pressure At Rest

K0 can be calculated as follows:

K0=1-sinФ For coarse grained soils

K0=0.44+0.42(Ф/100) For NC soils

 ACTIVE EARTH PRESSURE
 Due to excessive pressure of the retained soil, the retaining wall tends to
move away from the back fill.

 The wedged shaped portion of the back fill tending to move with the wall,
is called failure wedge.

 Due to movement of soil away from backfill, Shear resistance developed

in direction opposite to that stress on retailing wall, Earth pressure
decreases upto a point when shear resistance reaches its maximum
point.

At that point, pressure applied on wall is called Active Earth pressure..

 Active Earth Pressure
Ka can be calculated as follows:
Ka=tan²(45-Ф/2)
 Passive Earth Pressure

• Passive earth pressure occurs when the wall is pushed into the soil.

• Pressure on the wall increases due to movement of soil in contact with

retaining wall.

• Earth pressure on the retaining wall increases upto a point when shear

resistance reaches its maximum point.

• Earth pressure at that Point is called passive earth pressure.

 Passive Earth Pressure
Kp can be calculated as follows:
Kp=tan²(45+Ф/2)
Difference between active and passive earth
pressure

Active Earth Pressure Passive Earth Pressure

• The pressure exerted by back fill soil on • The pressure exerted by retaining wall on back
retaining wall, is called an active earth pressure. fill soil is known as passive earth pressure.

• It is developed due to movement of wall away • It is developed due to movement of wall

from backfill. toward back fill.

• Value of k is minimum • Value of k is maximum

 Earth Pressure Theories

Two classical Earth pressure theories has been put forward in the
eighteen and nineteen centuries by Coulomb and Rankine
respectively.
1) Coulomb’s (1776) Earth Pressure Theory
2) Rankine (1857) Earth Pressure Theory

These two theories are still in use in their original form and in some
modified forms to calculate the earth pressure.
 Coulomb Earth Pressure Theory

Coulomb (1776) first studied the problem of lateral earth pressures on

retaining structures.

He used limit equilibrium theory, which considers the falling soil block

as a free body in order to determine the limiting horizontal earth

pressure.
Since the problem is indeterminate, a number of potential failure
surfaces must be analyzed to identify the critical failure surface (i.e. the

surfaces that produces the maximum thrust on the wall)

Mayniel later extended Coulomb’s equations to account for wall

friction , symbolized by δ.

Muller-Breslau further generalized Mayniel’s equations for a non-

horizontal back fill and a non-vertical soil-wall interface.
 Assumptions:

• The back fill is a dry, cohesionless, homogeneous, isotropic soil.

• The back fill surface is planar and can be inclined.

• The back of the wall can be inclined to the vertical.

• The failure surface is a plane surface which passes through the heel of the wall.

• The position and the line of action of the earth pressure are known.

• The sliding wedge is considered to be a rigid body and the earth pressure is
obtained by considering the limiting equilibrium of the sliding wedge as a whole.
• The limiting horizontal pressures at failure in extension or
compression are used to determine the Ka and Kp respectively:
 Rankine’s Earth Pressure Theory

 Rankine’s theory, developed in 1857, is a stress field solution that predicts active and

passive earth pressure.

 The Rankine Theory assumes that there is no wall friction and the ground and the

failure surfaces are straight planes, and that the resultant force acts parallel to the

backfill slope(i.e.no friction acting between the soil and the backfill).
 Note that φ’ is the angle of shearing resistance of the soil and the

backfill is inclined at angle β to the horizontal.

 The equations for the active and passive lateral earth pressure

coefficients are given in next slide.

 Assumptions:

Soil is non-cohesive (c=0) dry, isotropic and homogenous.

Backfill is horizontal.

Wall is vertical.

Wall friction is neglected.

Formula for calculating Earth Pressure

Pa=1/2ƳH²Ka

Equations For Calculating Ka And Kp Given By Rankine’s Theory:

 Other Forces Acting On The Wall

Aside from the earth pressure force acting on the wall, other forces

might also act on the wall and these are superimposed onto the earth

pressure force. For example, these forces might include:

• Surcharge load
• Earthquake load
• Water pressure
 SURCHARGE LOAD

Surcharge loads acting on retaining walls are additional vertical loads that used to the

backfill soil above the top of the wall. It can be either dead loads. For example, sloping

backfill above the wall height or live load, which could result from the highway or parking

lot, paving or adjacent footing.

 EARTHQUAKE LOAD

• An earthquake load produce waves in every possible direction below

ground.

• As per intensity or scale of earthquake, jerks and shocks are acting on

the earth.

• As per location of the building in the prescribed zone of earthquake

coefficients of earthquake loads are decided.

 WATER PRESSURE
Walls are typically designed to prevent hydrostatic pressure from developing behind the wall. Therefore the loads applied to

most walls will not include water pressure. In cases where hydrostatic water pressure might develop behind an undrained

wall, the additional force resulting from the water pressure must be superimposed onto the lateral earth pressure. Since

water pressure is equal in all directions( i.e. coefficient (K)=1), the water pressure distribution increases linearly with depth

at a rate of Ƴwz where Ƴw is the unit weight of water (62.4pcf) and z is the depth below the ground water level. If the

surface of water behind a 10-foot high wall (H) were located 5-feet (d) below the backfill surface, then the superimposed

total lateral force resulting from groundwater pressure would be:

• W=1/2(Ƴw)(H-d)²=780 pounds (which is the area of the linearly increasing pressure distribution).

W acts at a height of (H-d)/3 (or 1.67-ft) above the base of the wall.

If seepage occurs, then the water pressure must be derived from seepage analysis, which is beyond the scope of this course.
 DEFINITION

STATIC LOAD DYNAMIC LOAD

• A force that has constant size , position and • A force on a structure that changes size ,
direction on or within a structure. position or direction.
 IMPORTANCE

Study of static loads determine the maximum allowable load to be

applied to the structure.

Study of dynamic load helps to determine the stresses at the

different points of the structure due to changing conditions over time.