LATERAL EARTH

PRESSURE

Vera Karla S.
Caingles
Earth Pressure At-Rest (Ko)
Earth Pressure At-Rest

If the wall does not move even after

back filling, the pressure exerted on the
wall is termed as pressure for the at
rest condition of the wall.
Earth Pressure At-Rest Lateral Earth Pressure

H
Earth Pressure At-Rest
Earth Pressure At-Rest
Distribution of lateral earth pressure at-rest on a wall of height “H” retaining a
DRY SOIL.

H
Earth Pressure At-Rest
Distribution of lateral earth pressure at-rest for
PARTIALLY SUBMERGED SOIL

H
Earth Pressure At-Rest
Distribution of lateral earth pressure at-rest for
PARTIALLY SUBMERGED SOIL
Earth Pressure At-Rest
Distribution of lateral earth pressure at-rest on a wall of height “H” retaining a
DRY SOIL with SURCHARGE.

H
 Rankine’s Theory
of Active Pressure (Ka)
Active Earth Pressure

Consider a rigid retaining wall with a plane

vertical face is backfilled with cohesionless
soil. If suppose the wall gradually rotates
about point A and moves away from the
backfill, the unit pressure on the wall is
gradually reduces and after a particular
displacement of the wall at the top, the
pressure reaches a constant value. The
pressure is the minimum possible. This
pressure is termed the active pressure
since the weight of the backfill is
responsible for the movement of the wall.
Active Earth Pressure

If the wall is smooth, the resultant pressure

acts normal to the face of the wall. If the
wall is rough, it makes an angle δ with the
normal on the wall. The angle δ is called the
angle of wall friction. As the wall moves
away from the backfill, the soil tends to
move forward. When the wall movement is
sufficient, a soil mass of weight W ruptures
along surface ADC. This surface is slightly
curved, If the surface is assumed to a plane
surface AC, analysis would indicate that this
surface would make an angle of 45o+θ/2
with the horizontal.
Active Earth Pressure

If a wall tends to move away from

the soil a distance Δx, as shown in
the Figure below, the soil pressure
on the wall at any depth will
decrease. For a wall that is
frictionless, the horizontal stress,
σh, at depth z will equal Koσ’o
(=Koγz) when Δx is zero. However,
with Δx > 0, σ’h will be less than
Koσ’o.
Active Earth Pressure
Active Earth Pressure

The depth zc is usually referred to as the depth of

tensile crack, because the tensile stress in the soil
will eventually cause a crack along the soil–wall
interface.

Thus, the total Rankine active force per unit length of the wall before the tensile
crack occurs is:

After the tensile crack appears, the force per unit length on the wall will be caused
only by the pressure distribution between depths z = zc and z = H,
Active Earth Pressure

However, it is important to realize that the active earth pressure condition will be
reached only if the wall is allowed to “yield” sufficiently. The necessary amount
of outward displacement of the wall is about 0.001H to 0.004H for granular soil
backfills and about 0.01H to 0.04H for cohesive soil backfills.
 Rankine’s Theory
of Passive Pressure (Kp)
Passive Earth Pressure

If the wall is now rotated about A towards

the backfill, the actual failure plane ADC is
also a curved surface. However, if the
failure surface is approximated as a plane
AC, this makes an angle 45-θ/2 with the
horizontal and the pressure on the wall
increases from the value of the rest
condition to the maximum value. The
maximum pressure that is developed is
termed the passive pressure. The
pressure is called passive because the
weight of the backfill opposes the
movement of the wall. It makes an angle δ
with the normal if the wall is rough.
Passive Earth Pressure

If the wall is pushed into the soil

mass by an amount Δx, as shown
in Figure, the vertical stress at
depth z will stay the same;
however, the horizontal stress will
increase. If the wall moves farther
inward (i.e., Δx is increased still
more).
Passive Earth Pressure
Passive Earth Pressure

The passive force per unit length of the

wall can be determined from the area of
the pressure diagram:

If the backfill behind the wall is a

granular soil (i.e., c = 0), then the
passive force per unit length of the
wall will be:
The relationship between Kp and Ka

Example:
θ = 30o

This simple demonstration indicates that the value of K p is

quite large compared to Ka