06 Chapter 7 - Lateral Earth Pressure-M

Foundation Engineering
CVL 4319
Chapter 7
Lateral Earth Pressure

Dr. Sari Abusharar
University of Palestine
Faculty of Applied Engineering and Urban Planning
Civil Engineering Department
1st Semester 2015-2016 1

Outline of Presentation
Introduction
Lateral Earth Pressure at Rest
Rankine Active Earth Pressure
A Generalized Case for Rankine Active Pressure
Coulombs Active Earth Pressure
Active Earth Pressure Due to Surcharge
Active Earth Pressure for Earthquake Conditions
Active Pressure for Wall Rotation about the Top: Braced Cut
Active Earth Pressure for Translation of Retaining
Rankine Passive Earth Pressure
Rankine Passive Earth Pressure: Vertical Backface and Inclined Backfill
Coulombs Passive Earth Pressure
Comments on the Failure Surface Assumption for Coulombs Pressure
Calculations
2
Passive Pressure under Earthquake Conditions
Introduction
Vertical or near-vertical slopes of soil are supported by:
retaining walls,
cantilever sheet-pile walls,
sheet-pile bulkheads,
The proper design of those structures requires an estimation of lateral

earth pressure, which is a function of several factors, such as:
(a) the type and amount of wall movement,

(b) the shear strength parameters of the soil,
(c) the unit weight of the soil
(d) the drainage conditions in the backfill.
Figure 7.1 shows a retaining wall of height H.
3
Introduction
a. The wall may be restrained from moving (Figure 7.1a). The lateral earth
pressure on the wall at any depth is called the at-rest earth pressure.
b. The wall may tilt away from the soil that is retained (Figure 7.1b). With
sufficient wall tilt, a triangular soil wedge behind the wall will fail. The
lateral pressure for this condition is referred to as active earth pressure.
c. The wall may be pushed into the soil that is retained (Figure 7.1c). With
sufficient wall movement, a soil wedge will fail. The lateral pressure for
4
this condition is referred to as passive earth pressure.
Consider a vertical wall of height H, as shown in Figure 7.3, retaining a soil
having a unit weight of A uniformly distributed load, q/unit area, is also
applied at the ground surface.
5
The shear strength of the soil is
At any depth z below the ground surface, the vertical subsurface stress is
If the wall is at rest and is not allowed to move at all, the lateral pressure at a
depth z is
6
For normally consolidated soil
For overconsolidated soil
The total force, per unit length of the wall given in Figure 7.3a can now be
obtained from the area of the pressure diagram given in Figure 7.3b and is
7
The location of the line of action of the resultant force, can be obtained by
taking the moment about the bottom of the wall. Thus,
If the water table is located at a depth the at-rest pressure diagram

shown in Figure 7.3b will have to be somewhat modified, as shown in Figure
7.4. If the effective unit weight of soil below the water table equals , then
8
where A = area of the pressure diagram. 9

Example 7.1
10
Example 7.1
11
Example 7.1
12
The lateral earth pressure described in Section 7.2 involves walls that do not
yield at all. However, if a wall tends to move away from the soil a distance
as shown in Figure 7.6a, the soil pressure on the wall at any depth will
decrease. For a wall that is frictionless, the horizontal stress, at depth z
will equal when is zero. However, with will be less
than
13
14

Example 7.2
17
Example 7.2
18
Example 7.3
19
Example 7.3
20
Example 7.3
21
Example 7.3
22
In previous slides, the relationship was developed for Rankine active
pressure for a retaining wall with a vertical back and a horizontal backfill.
That can be extended to general cases of frictionless walls with inclined
backs and inclined backfills.
Granular Backfill
23
For a Rankine active case, the lateral earth pressure at a depth z can be
given as
The pressure will be inclined at an angle with the plane drawn at right
angle to the backface of the wall, and
The active force for unit length of the wall then can be calculated as
24
where
The location and direction of the

resultant force is shown in Figure
7.9. Also shown in this figure is the
failure wedge, ABC. Note that BC will
be inclined at an angle Or
25
Granular Backfill with Vertical Back Face
Note that, in this case, the direction of the

resultant force is inclined at an angle with the
horizontal and intersects the wall at a distance
H/3 from the base of the wall. Table 7.1
presents the values of (active earth pressure)
for various values of and
26
27
Vertical Backface with Soil Backfill
For a retaining wall with a vertical back and inclined backfill of
soil
For this case, the active pressure is inclined at an angle with the horizontal.
28
29
Example 7.4
30
Example 7.4
31
Example 7.5
32
Example 7.5
33
The Rankine active earth pressure calculations discussed in the preceding
sections were based on the assumption that the wall is frictionless. In 1776,
Coulomb proposed a theory for calculating the lateral earth pressure on a
retaining wall with granular soil backfill. This theory takes wall friction into
consideration.
To apply Coulombs active earth

pressure theory, let us consider
a retaining wall with its back
face inclined at an angle with
the horizontal, as shown in
Figure 7.12a. The backfill is a
granular soil that slopes at an
angle with the horizontal.
Also, let be the angle of
friction between the soil and
the wall (i.e., the angle of wall
friction). 34
35
36
37
38
39
If a uniform surcharge of intensity q is located above the backfill, as shown in
Figure 7.13, the active force, Pa, can be calculated as
40
Example 7.6
41
Example 7.6
42
Lateral Earth Pressure Due to Surcharge
According to the theory of elasticity, the stress at any depth, z, on a retaining
structure caused by a line load of intensity q/unit length (Figure 7.14a) may
be given as
However, because soil is not a perfectly elastic medium,

some deviations from Eq. (7.29) may be expected. The
modified forms of this equation generally accepted for
use with soils are as follows:
43
Figure 7.14b shows a strip load with an intensity of q/unit area located at a
distance from a wall of height H. Based on the theory of elasticity, the
horizontal stress, at any depth z on a retaining structure is
However, in the case of soils, the right-

hand side of Eq. (7.32) is doubled to
account for the yielding soil continuum, or
44
The location (see Figure 7.14b) of the resultant force, P, can be given as
45
Example 7.8
46
Example 7.9
47
48
For Mohrs circle c in Figure 7.23b, the major principal stress is and the
minor principal stress is Substituting these quantities into Eq. (1.87) yields
Then, from Eq. (7.60), we have
49
50
51
Example 7.12
52
Example 7.12
53
Example 7.12
54
Rankine Passive Earth Pressure: Vertical
Backface and Inclined Backfill
Granular Soil
55
56
57
58
59
Active Earth Pressure for Earthquake Conditions
Coulombs active earth pressure theory can be extended to take into account
the forces caused by an earthquake. Figure 7.15 shows a condition of active
pressure with a granular backfill (c = 0).
60
End of Chapter 7
61
HW # 4
Due to Sunday, 1/12/2013
Solve problems:
7.2, 7.3, 7.6, 7.8, 7.9, and 7.10

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Foundation Engineering

Lateral Earth Pressure

1st Semester 2015-2016 1

The proper design of those structures requires an estimation of lateral

(a) the type and amount of wall movement,

Figure 7.1 shows a retaining wall of height H.

For overconsolidated soil

If the water table is located at a depth the at-rest pressure diagram

where A = area of the pressure diagram. 9

The location and direction of the

Note that, in this case, the direction of the

To apply Coulombs active earth

However, because soil is not a perfectly elastic medium,

However, in the case of soils, the right-

Then, from Eq. (7.60), we have

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