Lateral Earth Pressures

What is Lateral Earth Pressure?

Designing any retaining wall requires knowledge of lateral earth pressure, the pressure developed by the backfill. It is the force generated by the lateral earth pressure that constitutes a large part of the load that the wall must carry.

represents pressures that are to the side (horizontal) rather than vertical

Lateral Support
In geotechnical engineering, it is often necessary to prevent lateral soil movements.

Tie rod Anchor

Sheet pile

Cantilever retaining wall

Braced excavation

Anchored sheet pile

Lateral Support
We have to estimate the lateral soil pressures acting on these structures, to be able to design them.

Gravity Retaining wall

Soil nailing

Reinforced earth wall

Lateral Support
Reinforced earth walls are increasingly becoming popular.
geosynthetics

Lateral Support
Crib walls have been used in Queensland.
Good drainage & allow plant growth. Looks good.
Interlocking stretchers and headers filled with soil

Categories of Lateral Earth Pressure

Active/Passive Earth Pressures

- in granular soils Wall moves away from soil Wall moves towards soil
B
smooth wall

Lets look at the soil elements A and B during the wall movement.

Active Earth Pressure

- in granular soils v = z v z h A Initially, there is no lateral movement. h = K0 v = K0 z As the wall moves away from the soil, v remains the same; and

h decreases till failure occurs.

Active state

Active Earth Pressure

- in granular soils

As the wall moves away from the soil,

Initially (K0 state)

Failure (Active state)

v
active earth pressure

decreasing h

Active Earth Pressure

- in granular soils

[h]active v

WJM Rankine (1820-1872)

Rankines coefficient of active earth pressure

Active Earth Pressure

- in granular soils
Failure plane is at 45 + /2 to horizontal
45 + /2

v
h A

[h]active

90+

Active Earth Pressure

- in granular soils As the wall moves away from the soil, h decreases till failure occurs.

v z
h A

K0 state Active state

wall movement

Passive Earth Pressure

Initially, soil is in K0 state.

- in granular soils

As the wall moves towards the soil,

v
h B

v remains the same, and h increases till failure occurs.

Passive state

Passive Earth Pressure

- in granular soils

As the wall moves towards the soil,

Initially (K0 state) Failure (Active state)

passive earth pressure

v
increasing h

Passive Earth Pressure

- in granular soils

v [h]passive

Rankines coefficient of passive earth pressure

Passive Earth Pressure

Failure plane is at 45 - /2 to horizontal

45 - /2

- in granular soils

v
h A

90+

[h]passive

Passive Earth Pressure

- in granular soils

As the wall moves towards the soil,

h increases till failure occurs.

v
h B

Passive state

K0 state
wall movement

Earth Pressure Distribution

PA and PP are the resultant active and passive thrusts on the wall

- in granular soils [h]active

[h]passive
PA=0.5 KAH2
h

PP=0.5 KPh2

KPh

KAH

h
Passive state Active state K0 state
Wall movement (not to scale)

Rankines Earth Pressure Theory assumes:

There is no adhesion or friction between the wall and soil Lateral pressure is limited to vertical walls

Failure (in the backfill) occurs as a sliding wedge along an assumed failure plane defined by .
Lateral pressure varies linearly with depth and the resultant pressure is located one-third of the height (H) above the base of the wall. The resultant force is parallel to the backfill surface.

Rankines Earth Pressure Theory

Rankines Active earth pressure coefficient

Rankines Passive earth pressure coefficient

The Coulomb Theory

Coulomb active earth pressure coefficient:

Coulomb passive earth pressure coefficient:

The Coulomb Theory is similar to Rankine except that:

There is friction between the wall and soil and takes this into account by using a soil-wall friction angle of . Note that ranges from /2 to 2/3 and = 2/3 is commonly used. Lateral pressure is not limited to vertical walls

The resultant force is not necessarily parallel to the backfill surface because of the soil-wall friction value .

Retaining Walls - Applications

Road Train

Retaining Walls - Applications

highway

Retaining Walls - Applications

High-rise building

basement wall

Gravity Retaining Walls

cement mortar cobbles plain concrete or stone masonry

They rely on their self weight to support the backfill

Cantilever Retaining Walls

Reinforced; smaller section than gravity walls

They act like vertical cantilever, fixed to the ground