CEG 4012 


Lecture 23 (new)



Earth Pressures – Rankine / Sand
 Lateral Earth Pressure

Pressure on Structures
 Geostatic Stresses, At Rest Pressure 

(at a point, overburden only)

• Coefficient of Earth Pressure at Rest, K0, is the ratio of horizontal effective to vertical
effective stress. The at rest horizontal pressure develops naturally due to weight of the

σ' h
overburden soils. K0 = (K0 = 1 for water, i.e. same pressure both directions)
σ' v

• In general the total stresses must be calculated including water pressure and ∴
• For NC soils the Jaky equation is commonly used:
• Overconsolidation may lock in some of the higher past
horizontal stress (soils have a “memory”). For OC soils
Mayne and Kulhawy (1982) developed the following
equation:
• The at rest Mohr’s
circle plots beneath
the failure envelope:

• If we could insert a rigid wall into the soil without disturbance, the horizontal pressure
distribution on the wall would be triangular, linearly increasing with depth as the
vertical stress increases.

In a dry soil, cohesionless, the pressure

distribution and resultant, P0, shown at
right would act against the wall:

(note: soils possessing cohesion can

stand on a vertical cut without any wall –
more on cohesion later)
 Geostatic Stresses, At Rest Pressure
• If water is present (undesirable) we must also add a triangular water pressure
distribution and the at rest effective stress is no longer triangular.

• For braced excavations, basements and pipes we design for at rest pressure. For
walls, in general, we consider two limit states at the plastic equilibrium (where every
point in the soil mass is on the verge of failure):
– Active case (Ka): wall moves away from soil, vertical stress remains constant but
horizontal stress decreases to the minimum allowable without failure.
– Passive case (Kp): wall moves into soil, vertical stress remains constant but
horizontal stress increases to the maximum allowable without failure.
– At rest case (Ko): no wall movement
 Rankine Active Pressure State
• Assumes zero friction on the wall so that the horizontal stress remains a principle stress
• The horizontal pressure in a c-φ soil decreases until the Mohr’s circle reaches the failure
envelope:
 Rankine Active Pressure State
• The horizontal stress (acting on
the vertical plane) is the pole
and failure planes occur at both
± (45° + φ/2)

• Using triangle ACD we see that:

and:
 Rankine Active Pressure State
rearranging:

then if c = 0:
by substitution:

⎛ φ⎞ Coefficient of
σ a = K aσ v − 2c K a where K a = tan 2 ⎜ 45 − ⎟ = (1-sinφ)/(1+sinφ)
⎝ 2⎠ Active Earth
Pressure
 Rankine Passive Pressure State
• Assumes zero friction on the wall so that the horizontal stress remains a
principle stress
• The horizontal pressure increases in a c-φ soil until the Mohr’s circle reaches
the failure envelope (note that the horizontal stress becomes the major
principal stress and the vertical stress becomes the minor principal stress):
 Rankine Passive Pressure State
• The horizontal stress (acting
on the vertical plane) is the
pole and failure planes occur
at both ± (45° - φ/2)

• Using triangle ACD we see that:

and:
 Rankine Passive Pressure State
rearranging:

then if c = 0:
by substitution:
⎛ φ⎞
σ p = K p σ v + 2c K p where K p = tan2 ⎜ 45 + ⎟ = (1+sinφ)/(1-sinφ)
⎝ 2⎠
Coefficient of
Passive Earth
Pressure