Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Chapter 9
In Situ Stresses

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Learning Objectives

• Concept of effective stress

• Stresses in saturated soil without seepage, upward
seepage, and downward seepage
• Seepage force per unit volume of soil
• Conditions for heaving or boiling for seepage under a
hydraulic structure
• Use of filter to increase the stability against heaving or
boiling
• Effective stress in partially saturated soil

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Stresses in Saturated Soil without

Seepage
• The total stress at the
elevation of A is:
𝜎 = 𝐻𝛾𝑤 + 𝐻𝐴 − 𝐻 𝛾𝑠𝑎𝑡
1. H is the height water table
from the top of the soil
column
2. 𝐻𝐴 is the distance between
point A and the water table
3. 𝛾𝜔 is the unit weight of water
4. 𝛾𝑠𝑎𝑡 is the saturated unit
weight of the soil

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Stresses in Saturated Soil without

Seepage
• The total stress can be divided
into two parts:
1. The stress carried by water
through the void spaces
2. The stress carried by the soil
solids at their points of
contact
• The sum of the vertical force
components at the soil solids
points of contact per unit area
is the effective stress
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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Stresses in Saturated Soil without

Seepage
• The total stress can be approximated by:
𝜎 = 𝜎′ + 𝑢
1. 𝜎′ is the effective stress
2. 𝑢 = 𝐻𝐴 𝛾𝑤 and is referred to as neutral stress or the pore
water pressure
• Effective stress is approximately the stress carried by the soil
skeleton
• The principle of effective stress is one of the most important
concepts in geotechnical engineering
• The compressibility and shearing resistance of a soil largely
depend on the effective stress

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Stresses in Saturated Soil without

Seepage
• In a general sense, the total stress is:
𝜎 = 𝜎𝑖𝑔 + 𝑢 1 − 𝑎𝑠 ′ − 𝐴′ + 𝑅′
1. 𝜎𝑖𝑔 is the intergranular stress
2. 𝑎𝑠′ = 𝑎𝑠 /𝐴ҧ is the fraction of the cross-sectional area occupied
by solid-to-solid contact
3. 𝐴′ and 𝑅′ are the attractive and repulsive electrical forces,
respectively
• For most practical soil problems, 𝐴′, 𝑅′, and 𝑎𝑠′ are very small,
so:
𝜎𝑖𝑔 = 𝜎 ′ = 𝜎 − 𝑢

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Stresses in Saturated Soil without

Seepage

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Stresses in Saturated Soil with Upward

Seepage
• The total stress at any point in
the soil is a function of the
weight of soil and the water
weight above it

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Stresses in Saturated Soil with Upward

Seepage
• As the seepage increases, 𝑖 (the hydraulic gradient)
increases until a limiting condition is reached
𝜎𝐶′ = z𝛾 ′ − 𝑖𝑐𝑟 𝑧𝛾𝑤 = 0
• Soil stability is then lost. This situation generally is
referred to as boiling, or a quick condition
• For most soils, the value of 𝑖𝑐𝑟 varies from 0.9 to 1.1,
and is given by:
𝛾′
𝑖𝑐𝑟 =
𝛾𝑤

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Stresses in Saturated Soil with

Downward Seepage

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Seepage Force
• The force on a unit volume
of soil from seepage is:
𝑆𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒
= 𝑖𝛾𝑤
𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
1. i is the hydraulic gradient
along the direction of flow
• This force acts in the
direction of the flow
• A flow net may be used to
determine the hydraulic
gradient for the flow

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Seepage Force Comparison

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Heaving in Soil Due to Flow around

Sheet Piles
• Heaving can cause failure of
sheet-pile structures
• Heaving generally occurs
within a distance of half the
depth of embedment of sheet
piles into the permeable layer,
D/2
• The factor of safety against
heaving is given by:
𝑊′
𝐹𝑆 =
𝑈
1. 𝑊′ is the weight of the soil
block, and 𝑈 is the uplifting
force caused by seepage
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 After conducting several model tests, Terzaghi (1922) concluded that
heaving generally occurs within a distance of D/2 from the sheet piles
(when D equals depth of embedment of sheet piles into the permeable
layer). Therefore, we need to investigate the stability of soil in a zone
measuring D by D/2 in cross-section as shown in Figure 9.9b.The factor of
safety against heaving can be given by

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Heaving in Soil Due to Flow around

Sheet Piles
• Substituting the values of W’ and U, we can write:
𝛾′
𝐹𝑆 =
𝑖𝑎𝑣 𝛾𝑤
1. where 𝑖𝑎𝑣 is the average hydraulic gradient at the
bottom of the block of soil
• According to Harza (1935), the factor of safety against
heaving can be expressed as:
𝑖𝑐𝑟
𝐹𝑆 =
𝑖𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑡
1. 𝑖𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑡 is the maximum exit gradient, and it can be
determined using a flow net
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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Definition of the Maximum Exit Gradient

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Definition of the Maximum Exit Gradient

• A safety factor of 3 is
considered adequate
• For dams constructed over
deep homogenous soil:
𝐻
𝑖𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑡 = 𝐶
𝐵
1. B is the length of the dam
2. H is the height of the dam
3. C is given in Figure 9.13

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Use of Filters to Increase the Factor of

Safety against Heave
• A filter is a granular
material with openings
small enough to prevent the
flow of soil particles
• With a filter, the factor of
safety is:
𝐷
𝛾 ′ + 1 𝛾𝐹′
𝐷
𝐹𝑆 =
𝑖𝑎𝑣 𝛾𝑤
1. 𝐷1 is the depth of the filter,
2. 𝛾𝐹′ is its effective unit
weight
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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Effective Stress in Partially Saturated

Soil
• For a partially saturated soil,
the effective stress is:
𝜎 ′ = 𝜎 − 𝑢𝑎 + 𝜒 𝑢𝑎 − 𝑢 𝑤
1. 𝑢𝑎 is the pore air pressure
2. 𝑢𝑤 is the pore water pressure
3. 𝜒 is the fraction of a unit
cross-sectional area occupied
by water, and is 0 for dry soil
and 1 for saturated soil

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Effective Stress in Partially Saturated

Soil
• For partially saturated soil, 𝜒
depends mostly on the
degree of saturation, S
• However, soil structure also
influences its value
• Figure 9.20 shows the
variation of 𝜒 with S for
Bearhead silt

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Capillary Rise in Soils

• Void spaces in soil

behave as capillary
tubes
• The fundamental
concept of the height
of rise in a capillary
tube is shown in
Figure 9.21

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Capillary Rise in Soils

• The height of rise of water in a capillary tube is given by

summing the forces in the vertical direction:
4𝑇 cos 𝛼
ℎ𝑐 =
𝑑𝛾𝑤
1. 𝑇 is the surface tension, and is 72 mN/m for water
2. 𝛼 is the angle of contact, and is 0 for pure water
3. 𝑑 is the diameter of the capillary tube

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Capillary Rise in Soils

• The capillary tubes formed in
soils have variable cross
sections because of the
continuity of voids
• An approximation for the
capillary rise is:
𝐶
ℎ1 (mm) =
𝑒𝐷10
1. 𝐷10 is the effective size
2. 𝐶 is a constant that varies
from 10 to 50 mm2

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Capillary Rise in Soils

• Typical ranges for the

capillary rise are given in
Table 9.2
• Capillary rise is important to
the formation of caliche, a
soil found in the desert of
the Southwestern United
States
• Caliche is a mixture of sand,
silt, and gravel bonded by
calcareous deposits

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Effective Stress in the Zone of Capillary

Rise
• The pore water pressure at a point in a layer of soil fully
saturated by capillary rise is:
𝑢 = −𝛾𝑤 ℎ
1. where h is the height of the point under consideration
measure from the groundwater table
• If partial saturation is caused by capillary action, it can be
approximated as:
𝑆
𝑢=− 𝛾𝑤 ℎ
100
1. where S is the degree of saturation
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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Plot the Variation of 𝜎, 𝑢, and 𝜎’ for the

Given Soil Profile
H1 = 1.83 m
H2 = 0.91 m
H3 = 1.83 m

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Summary

• The total stress at a point in the soil mass is the sum of the
effective stress and the pore water pressure:
𝜎 = 𝜎′ + 𝑢
• There is a critical hydraulic gradient that causes boiling or
a quick condition in soil:
𝛾 ′ effective unit weight of soil
𝑖𝑐𝑟 = =
𝛾𝑤 unit weight of water

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Summary
• The seepage force per unit volume is 𝑖𝛾𝑤 in the direction of
the flow
• Heaving may result from flow around sheet piles, and filters
can help reduce this risk
• The effective stress at a point in partially saturated soil is:
𝜎 ′ = 𝜎 − 𝑢𝑎 + 𝜒 𝑢𝑎 − 𝑢𝑤
1. 𝑢𝑎 and 𝑢𝑤 are the pore air and pore water pressures,
respectively
2. 𝜒 is a factor that is 1 for saturated soil and 0 for dry soil
• Capillary rise can range from 0.1 m to 0.2 m in coarse sand
to 7.5 m to 23 m in clay
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