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Module 6
(Lecture 23)
LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE

Topics
1.1 PASSIVE PRESSURE
1.2 RANKINE PASSIVE EARTH PRESSURE
1.3 RANKINE PASSIVE EARTH PRESSURE-INCLINED
BACKFILL
1.4 COULOMBS PASSIVE EARTH PRESSURE
1.5 COMMENTS ON THE FAILURE SURFACE ASSUMPTION
FOR COULOMBS PRESSURE CALCULATIONS


PASSIVE PRESSURE

RANKINE PASSIVE EARTH PRESSURE
Figure 6.25a shows a vertical frictionless retaining wall with a horizontal backfill. At depth z,
the vertical pressure on a soil element is

= . Initially, if the wall does not yield at all, the

lateral stress at that depth will be

. This state of stress is illustrated by the Mohrs

circle in figure 6.25b. Now, if the wall is pushed into the soil mass by an amount , as shown
in figure 6.25a, the vertical stress at depth z will stay the same; however, the horizontal stress
will increase. Thus

will be greater than

. The state of stress can now be represented by

the Mohrs circle b in figure 6.25b. If the wall moves farther inward (that is, is increased still
more), the stresses at depth z will ultimately reach the state represented by Mohrs circle c
(figure 6.25b). Note that this Mohrs circle touches the Mohr-Coulomb failure envelope, which
implies that the soil behind the wall will fail by being pushed upward. The horizontal stress,

,
at this point is referred to as the Rankine passive pressure, or

.
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Figure 6.25 Rankine passive pressure
For Mohrs circle c in figure 6.25b, the major principal stress is

, and the minor principal

stress is

. Substituting them into equation (84 from chapter 1) yields

tan
2
45 +

2
+2 tan45 +

2
[6.55]
Now, let

= Rankine passive earth pressure coefficient

tan
2
45 +

2
[6.56]
(See table 9). Hence, from equation (55),

+2

[6.57]


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Table 9 Variation of Rankine

Soil friction angle,
(deg)

= tan
2
(45 +/2)
20 2.040
21 2.117
22 2.198
23 2.283
24 2.371
25 2.464
26 2.561
27 2.663
28 2.770
29 2.882
30 3.000
31 3.124
32 3.255
33 3.392
34 3.537
35 3.690
36 3.852
37 4.023
38 4.204
39 4.395
40 4.599
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41 4.815
42 5.045
43 5.289
44 5.550
45 5.828
Equation (57) produces figure 6.25c, the passive pressure diagram for the wall shown in figure
6. 25a. Note that at = 0,

= 0 and

= 2

and at = ,

= and

+2

The passive force per unit length of the wall can be determined from the area of the pressure
diagram, or

=
1
2

2
+2

[6.58]
The approximate magnitudes of the wall movements, , required to develop failure under
passive conditions are

Soil type Wall movement for passive
condition,
Dense sand 0.005H
Loose sand 0.01H
Stiff clay 0.01H
Soft clay 0.05H
Example 10
A 3-m high wall is shown in figure 6.26a. Determine the Rankine passive force per unit length
of the wall.

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Figure 6.26
Solution
For the top layer

(1)
= tan
2
45 +

1
2
= tan
2
(45 +15) = 3
From the bottom soil layer

(2)
= tan
2
45 +

2
2
= tan
2
(45 +13) = 2.56

+2

Where

= effective vertical stress

at = 0,

= 0,
1
= 0,

= 0
at = 2 m,

= (15.72)(2) = 31.44 kN/m

2
, c
1
= 0
So, for the top soil layer

= 31.44
(1)
+2(0)

(1)
= 31.44(3) = 94.32 kN/m
2

At this depth, that is, = 2m, for the bottom soil layer

(2)
+2

(2)
= 31.44(2.56) +2(10)2.56 = 80.49 +32 = 112.49 kN/m
2

Again, at = 3 m,

= (15.72)(2) +(
sat

)(1) = 31.44 +(18.86 9.81)(1) =

40.49 kN/m
2


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Hence

(2)
+2

(2)
= 40.49(2.56) +(2)(10)(1.6) = 135.65 kN/m
2

Note that, because a water table is present, the hydrostatic stress, u, also has to be taken into
consideration. For = 0, to 2 m, = 0; = 3 m, = (1)(

) = 9.81 kN/m
2
.
The passive pressure diagram is plotted in figure 6.26b. The passive force per unit length of the
wall can be determined from the area of the pressure diagram as follows:
Area no. Area
1

1
2
(2)(94.32)
= 94.32
2 (112.49)(1) = 112.49
3

1
2
(1)(135.65 112.49)
= 11.58
4

1
2
(9.81)(1)
= 4.905

=
223.3 kN/m
RANKINE PASSIVE EARTH PRESSURE-INCLINED BACKFILL
For a frictionless vertical retaining wall (figure 6.10) with a granular backfill ( = 0), the
Rankine passive pressure at any depth can be determined in a manner similar to that done in the
case of active pressure, or

[6.59]
and the passive force

=
1
2

[6.60]
Where

= cos
cos +cos
2
cos
2

cos cos
2
cos
2

[6.61]
As in the case of the active force, the resultant force,

, is inclined at an angle with the

horizontal and intersects the wall at a distance of /3 from the bottom of the wall. The values of

(passive earth pressure coefficient) for various values of and are given in table 10.
If the backfill of the frictionless vertical retaining wall is a soil (figure 6.10), then

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cos [6.62]
Where

=
1
cos
2


2 cos
2
+ 2

cos sin
+4 cos
2
(cos
2
cos
2
) + 4

2
cos
2
+ 8

cos
2
sin cos
1 [6.63]
Table 10 Passive Earth Pressure Coefficient,

[equation (61)
(deg)
(deg) 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
0 2.770 3.000 3.255 3.537 3.852 4.204 4.599
5 2.715 2.943 3.196 3.476 3.788 4.136 4.527
10 2.551 2.775 3.022 3.295 3.598 3.937 4.316
15 2.284 2.502 2.740 3.003 3.293 3.615 3.977
20 1.918 2.132 2.362 2.612 2.886 3.189 3.526
25 1.434 1.664 1.984 2.135 2.394 2.676 2.987
Table 11 Values of

/
(deg) (deg) 0.025 0.050 0.100 0.500
15 0 1.764 1.829 1.959 3.002
5 1.716 1.783 1.917 2.971
10 1.564 1.641 1.788 2.880
15 1.251 1.370 1.561 2.732
20 0 2.111 2.182 2.325 3.468
5 2.067 2.140 2.285 3.435
10 1.932 2.010 2.162 3.339
15 1.696 1.786 1.956 3.183
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25 0 2.542 2.621 2.778 4.034
5 2.499 2.578 2.737 3.999
10 2.368 2.450 2.614 3.895
15 2.147 2.236 2.409 3.726
30 0 3.087 3.173 3.346 4.732
5 3.042 3.129 3.303 4.674
10 2.907 2.996 3.174 4.579
15 2.684 2.777 2.961 4.394
The variation of

with , , / is given in table 11 (Mazindrani and Ganjali, 1997).

COULOMBS PASSIVE EARTH PRESSURE
Coulomb (1776) also represent an analysis for determining the passive earth pressure (that is,
when the wall moves into the soil mass) for walls possessing friction
( = angle of wall friction) and retaining a granular backfill material similar.
To understand the determination of Coulombs passive force,

, consider the wall shown in

figure 6.27a. As in the case of active pressure, Coulomb assumed that the potential failure
surface in soil is a plane. For a trial failure wedge of soil, such as
1
, the forces per unit length
of the wall acting on the wedge

Figure 6.27 Coulombs passive pressure
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1. The weight of the wedge, W
2. The resultant, R, of the normal and shear forces on the plane
1

3. The passive force,

Figure 6.27 shows the force triangle at equilibrium for the trial wedge
1
. From this force
triangle, the value of

can be determined because the direction of all three forces and the
magnitude of one force are known.
Similar force triangles for several trial wedges, such as
1
,
2
,
3
, can be constructed,
and the corresponding values of

can be determined. The top part of figure 6.27a shows the

nature of the variation of the

values for different wedges. The minimum value of

in this
diagram is Coulombs passive force. Mathematically, this can be expressed as

=
1
2

[6.64]
Table 12 Values of

[equation (65)] for =

(deg)
(deg) 0 5 10 15 20
15 1.698 1.900 2.130 2.405 2.735
20 2.040 2.313 2.636 3.030 3.525
25 2.464 2.830 3.286 3.855 4.597
30 3.000 3.506 4.143 4.977 6.105
35 3.690 4.390 5.310 6.854 8.324
40 4.600 5.590 6.946 8.870 11.772
Where

= Coulomb

spassive pressure coefficient

=
sin
2
()
sin
2
sin(+)1
sin (+)sin ()
sin (+)sin (+)

2
[6.65]
The values of the passive pressure coefficient,

, for various values of and are given in

table 12 ( = 90

and = 0

).
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Note that the resultant passive force,

, will act at a distance of /3 from the bottom of the wall

and will be inclined at an angle to the normal drawn to the back face of the wall.
COMMENTS ON THE FAILURE SURFACE ASSUMPTION FOR COULOMBS
PRESSURE CALCULATIONS
Coulombs pressure calculation methods for active and passive pressure. The fundamental
assumption for these analyses is the acceptance of plane failure surfaces. However, for walls
with friction, this assumption does not hold in practice. The nature of actual failure surfaces in
the soil mass for active and passive pressure is shown in figure 6.28a and b, respectively (for a
vertical wall with a horizontal backfill). Note that the failure surfaces BC are curved and that the
failure surfaces CD are planes.

Figure 6. 6.28 Nature of failure surface in soil with wall friction for (a0 active pressure case and
(b) passive pressure case
Although the actual failure surface in soil for the case of active pressure is somewhat different
from that assumed in the calculation of the Coulomb pressure, the results are not greatly
different. However, in the cases of passive pressure, as the value of increases, Coulombs
method of calculation gives increasingly erroneous values of

. This factor of error could lead

to an unsafe condition because the values of

would become higher than the soil resistance.

Caquot and Kerisel (1948) developed a chart (figure 6.29) for estimating the value of the passive
pressure coefficient (

) with curved failure surface in granular soil ( = 0), such as that shown
in figure 6.28. In their solution, the portion BC of the failure surface was assumed to be an arc of
a logarithmic spiral. While using figure 6.29, the following points should be kept in mind:
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Figure 6.29 Caquot and Kerisels passive pressure coefficient,

, for granular soil

1. The curves are for = .
2. If / is less than one, then

()
=
(=)


Where

= reduction factor

The reduction factor R is given in table 13.

3. The passive pressure is

=
1
2

()



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Table 13 Reduction factor, R, for use in conjunction with figure 6. 29
/
(deg)
0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0
10
0.978 0.962 0.946 0.929 0.912 0.898 0.880 0.864
15
0.961 0.934 0.907 0.881 0.854 0.830 0.803 0.775
20
0.939 0.901 0.862 0.824 0.787 0.752 0.716 0.678
25
0.912 0.860 0.808 0.759 0.711 0.666 0.620 0.574
30
0.878 0.811 0.746 0.686 0.627 0.574 0.520 0.467
35
0.836 0.752 0.674 0.603 0.536 0.475 0.417 0.362
40
0.783 0.682 0.592 0.512 0.439 0.375 0.316 0.262
45
0.718 0.600 0.500 0.414 0.339 0.276 0.221 0.174