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Geotechnical and Foundation Engineering – Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR
Learning outcomes:
Upon completing the study of this chapter, students are able to:
1. quantify the effects of lateral earth pressure on retaining walls;
2. evaluate the lateral earth pressure and force acting on retaining walls using
Rankine earth pressure theory;

LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE

Lateral earth pressure is a sideways pressure that is exerted to a vertical or near

vertical structures such as a retaining wall by the soil. It is quite obvious that the
retaining wall has to resist this lateral earth pressure in order to prevent the soil mass
from sliding down. In general, the geotechnical engineers classify 3 conditions of
lateral earth pressure. These are the at-rest condition, the active condition and the
passive condition. The coefficient of lateral earth pressure, K, can be generally
defined as the ratio of the horizontal effective stress (’x) to the vertical effective
stress (’z) at a point, i.e.

K x
 z
For the at rest condition, the coefficient of lateral pressure is usually defined by Ko.

 ’z
Retaining Wall ’z

At rest condition

Wall moved outward Wall moved inward

Active condition Passive condition

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It should be noted the movement of the wall in the above figures are only for
illustrative purpose. The wall may in fact translate and or rotate about its bottom.

The relationship between the wall movement and the types of lateral earth pressure
can be described by the following figure:

K - Coefficient
of Lateral Earth Kp –Passive Lateral
Pressure Earth Pressure
Coefficient

Ka – Active Ko – At-rest
Lateral Earth Lateral Earth
Pressure Pressure
Coefficient Coefficient

Wall moves away from Wall moves toward

the backfill soil the backfill soil

No wall movement

Active Pressure

Passive Pressure

Earth Pressure at Rest

To analyse earth pressure at rest, consider the soil resting against a smooth and
immovable wall (similar to the situation of a basement wall).

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pv
H
ph
Po

H/3
po

The soil at this state is in elastic equilibrium and the soil is subject to a state of stress
as shown above. The lateral earth pressure at the base of the wall, po is:

po = KoH

where Ko is the coefficient of lateral earth at rest,  is the unit weight of soil and H is
the height of the wall. Of course H is the vertical pressure at the bottom of the wall
due to the soil. Therefore, the lateral force, Po (per unit width of wall) acting on the
wall is:
1
Po = KoH2
2

This lateral force will act at a position of H/3 from the base of the wall as shown in
the figure above. For coarse-grained soil (loose sand etc) the coefficient of lateral
earth pressure at rest can be approximated by an empirical equation:

Ko = 1-sin

If the sand is densely packed, the above equation should be modified as follows:

 d 
Ko = (1-sin   15.5
  d (min) 

Where d is the actual compacted dry unit weight of the sand behind the wall and d(min)
is the dry unit weight of the sand in the loosest state.

If there is groundwater exist in the soil, the hydrostatic pressure against the wall must
also be included in the total lateral force.

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’ = sat - w

(Adopted from Das 1998)

Example 1
A retaining wall is shown in the figure below. It may be assumed that there is no
lateral movement of the wall and the wall is smooth. The soil is loose sand.
Determine:
a) The diagram of the lateral earth pressure against the wall.
b) Total lateral force acting on the wall.

1m  = 17.5 kN/m3

3m
sat = 19.5 kN/m3
 = 32o

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a) For loose sand: Ko = 1 - sin

= 1 - sin32o
= 0.47

Pressure at 1m

p1 = KoH1
= (0.47)(17.5)(1)
= 8.23 kN/m2

Pressure at 3m

p2 = KoH1 + Ko'H2 + wH2

= (0.47)(17.5)(1) + (0.47)(19.5 – 9.81)(2) + (9.81)(2)
= 37 kN/m2

1m
8.23 kN/m2

2m

37 kN/m2

b) Consider a unit width of wall:

Po = (8.23)(1)/2 + (8.23 + 37)(2)/2

= 49.3 kN/m

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Rankine Earth Pressures

The Rankine earth pressure is one of the early theories in dealing with the evaluation
of lateral earth pressure. The following assumptions are used in the Rankine theory
(Das 2005):
a) There is no adhesion or friction between wall and soil.
b) Failure is assumed to occur in the form of a sliding wedge. The sliding
movement is also assumed to occur along an inclined failure plane at an angle
that is a function of the angle of internal friction () of the soil.
c) The lateral pressure is assumed to vary linearly along the depth of the wall.
d) The resultant force is assumed to act at a one third of the height of the wall
from the wall base.
e) The direction of the resultant is assumed to be parallel to the slope of the soil
of the backfill surface.

(c)
(a)

Normal stress

(b) (d) 6
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As shown in Fig. (a) above, the wall AB is allowed to move away from the soil
gradually and this will cause the effective horizontal stress ’h to decrease slowly.
Eventually, as ’h is decreasing the state of stress will reach to a plastic equilibrium as
represented by the Mohr circle b as shown in Fig. (b). At this state, failure of the soil
will occur as shown by the Mohr-Coulomb failure envelop. An expression for ’a in
terms of , z c’ and ’ can be determined as follows:

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According to Fig. (a), the Rankine’s active earth pressure coefficient, Ka, is
determined by the ratio of ’a to ’o :

For the passive case, similar derivation can be done to determine ’p in terms of , z c’
and ’

The final equation for Kp is:

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Example 2

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For cases where the backfill is inclined, ( the following equations are used for
determining the Rankine’s earth pressure coefficients:

 Wall moved inward

Wall moved outward

Failure
Failure
surface
surface

45o - /2
45 + /2
o

Active condition Passive condition

 

H Pa  H Pa 

H/3 HKa H/3 HKa

Rankine Active Pressure Rankine Active Pressure

(inclined back)

For the active case (c’ = 0):

cos   cos 2   cos 2 

K a  cos  ( )
cos   cos 2   cos 2 

Where
 = angle of the inclined backfill with respect to the horizontal
 = angle of internal friction of soil

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The active lateral force is therefore,

Pa = ½ H2Ka

Where
 = unit weight of soil
H = height of wall

For the passive earth pressure (c’ = 0):

cos   cos 2   cos 2 

K p  cos  ( )
cos   cos 2   cos 2 

The passive lateral force is therefore,

Pp = ½ H2Kp

If the backfill is horizontal, therefore,  will be zero and the above equations for the
lateral earth pressures will be reduced to the following:

1  sin 
Ka 
1  sin 

and

1  sin 
Kp 
1  sin 

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Example 3

For the retaining wall shown in the figure below, determine the active lateral force
(per metre width of wall) exerted on the wall using the Rankine theory. Indicate also
the position of the force measured from the bottom of the wall.

20o

 = 18.6 kN/m3
7m  = 34o

cos   cos 2   cos 2 

K a  cos  ( )
cos   cos 2   cos 2 

cos 20 o  cos 2 20 o  cos 2 34o

K a  cos 20o ( )
cos 20o  cos 2 20 o  cos 2 34o

Ka = 0.338

Therefore, Pa = ½ H2Ka

Pa = ½(18.6)(72)(0.338)
= 154 kN/m @ 20o from horizontal acting at 2.33 m (7/3)
from the base of wall
20o

7m 20o

2.33m

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References

1. Das, B.M. “Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering” 2005, ITP.

2. Bowles J E “Foundation analysis and design” McGraw Hill.
3. Holtz R D and Kovacs WD “An introduction to geotechnical engineering” 1981
Prentice Hall.
4. Liu C and Evett J B “Soils and Foundations” 5th edition, Prentice Hall.
5. Coduto, D P “Geotechnical Engineering Principles and Practice” 1999, Prentice
Hall.

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