THE USE OF PORE-PRESSURE COEFFICIENTS IN PRACTICE

by
-4. W. BISHOP, M.A.,

PH.D.,

A.M.E.C.E.

SYNOPSIS
Les coefficients de pression interstitielle dCfinies
coefficients defined by
Skempton (1954) have been applied to the problems par Skempton (1954) ont Bt6 appliqub aux probl&mesdu calcul des tensions efficaces dans une barof determinin g the effective stresses in an earth dam
rage en terre, en tours de construction ainsi que
during construction and during rapid draw-down. durant un affaissement rauide. 11 est fait mention
I
Reference is made also to several other practical
Agalement de diverses autres applications de ces
coefficients.
applications of these coefficients.
The

pore-pressure

INTRODUCTION
In many practical problems involving the stability or deformation of soil masses, it is
necessary to estimate the magnitude of the changes in pore-pressure resulting from changes
in the state of stress.
Where such an estimate is also associated with subsequent field
measurements
of pore pressure, it provides a means whereby the margin of uncertainty
in
construction work can be greatly reduced.
Typical cases are :
(i) The stressing of natural strata forming the foundation of a structure or of an
earth dam, in which a knowledge of the initial pore pressure is necessary to
estimate the stability during and after construction.
(ii) The stressing of the compacted impervious fill of an earth dam during construction,
In this case, the magnitude of
due to the weight of the superimposed layers.
the initial pore pressure controls the stability and the amount of settlement
which can be expected after completion.
(iii) The removal of the water load on the impervious fill of an earth dam due to rapid
draw-down.
(iv) The formation of slopes and cuttings in natural strata in which pore-pressure
changes result from the removal of the weight of the overlying soil.
In each of these cases, the changes in normal stress are accompanied by changes in shear
stress.
It is for this reason that the pore-pressure
coefficients have proved increasingly
useful during the past few years-firstly,
in providing a qualitative picture of the type of
pore-pressure changes which can be expected in any particular problem ; and, secondly,
in cases where the stress changes are known with reasonable accuracy, in providing the
basis for quantitative
design methods.
The overall accuracy of an estimate of stability or deformation will, of course, be influenced by additional factors, such asthe rate of dissipation of the initial pore pressure, and, with
natural slopes in particular, by changes in the values of the shear parameters due to changes
in the state of stress.
However, the first step in solving these problems is to determine the
pore pressures which would be set up under undrained conditions.
The use of the pore-pressure co&ficients in estimating the stability df an earth dam
founded on a soft clay layer is described by Bishop (1952) aid by Skempton and Bishop
(1955).
A similar problem-that
of estimating
the residual pore pressure in drained
shear tests carried out in the laboratory under various rates of loading-has
been treated on
this basis by Gibson and Henkel (1954).
The pore-pressure coefficients have also been used in a discussion by Henkel and Skempton
(1954) of the decrease in stability of cuts made in over-consolidated
clays, and in a discussion
by Bishop and Henkel (1953) of the discrepancy
between in-situ shear strength and that
obtained fromconsolidated
undrained tests.
148

THE

USE

OF PORE-PRESSURE

COEFFICIENTS

149

In this article, the use of the coefficients will be briefly illustrated in. terms of the porepressure changes which occur in the impervious fill of an earth dam during construction and
during rapid draw-down.
PORE PRESSURES

SET UP IN THE

IMPERVIOUS
FILL
CONSTRUCTION

OF AN EARTH

DAM DURING

An element of soil in the impervious till of an earth dam (Fig. 1) will be subjected, during
construction, to additional stresses due to the increasing weight of fill placed above this
point. If, in the simplest case, zero dissipation of pore pressure is assumed to take place,
the excess pore pressure is a function only
of the applied increases in stress. The
problem then consists, firstly, of estimating the magnitude of the changes in
principal stress, and, secondly, of deter&
mining the appropriate pore-pressure coefficients.
Fig. i. changem in principal mtrea* on an
Although the directions of the principal
element
during
construction
stresses will vary considerably along a
(dul-y.h)
potential slip surface, the magnitude of the
major principal stress can be taken, as a first approximation, as being equal to the vertical
head of soil above the point considered (Bishop, 1952): The accurate determination of the
other principal stresses would require a detailed analysis in each particular case, and it is
therefore convenient to express the @ore pressure as a function of the major principal stress,
and to examine the extent to which this relationship is influenced by variations in the principal
stress ratio.
The pore-pressure ratio is then given by the expression (Skempton, 1954) :

AU

a=B=~[l-(l-AA)(l-~)]

ui

where B is the overall pore-pressure coefficient and A and B are defined by the equation :
Au = B[Au,

+ A(Aq

- Au,)],

where Au denotes the increase in pore pressure and

AU, and Au, denote the increases in major and minor total principal stresses respectively.
Since, in compacted earth till materials, A is less than unity and, .in many cases, close to
zero, it follows immediately from equation (1) that the shear stresses set up during c_onstruction,
which are represented by values of .Au3/Aul of less than unity, lead to values of B lower than
the pore-pressure ratio B obtained by applying an all-round pressure to the sample.
To determine the extent of this reduction in practice, it is necessary to consider the
limiting states of stress between which the actual case must lie. If the bank were composed
of horizontal layers of infinite extent, there would be no lateral deformation and the ratio
of the minor and major principal effective stresses would be equal to the coefficient of earth
nressure at rest :
Au,
-=K
i.e.,
Au,'
a

(J

If, on the other hand, the slope were sufficiently steep to be in a condition of limiting
equilibrium, the ratio of the principal effective stresses would have its minimum value,
corresponding to failure in the triaxial test. This limit is represented by the value Kf.
Actual construction carried out with a factor of safety greater than unity will lie between
these values, and may be represented by the intermediate value K.

BISHOP

150

(1) may be expressed in terms of the effective stress ratio K by makii

Equation

the

substitution :
Au8 - B.Aq
Au, - B.Av,

Au, -Au
-Au=

Au,
K=Aol=Avl

(3)

(4)

This leads to the expression :

Jo

1 - (1 - A)(1 - K)

1 -B.(l

-A)(1

-K)

Representative values are given in Table 1 to indicate the range within which B should
lie for two typical soils-a sandy clay and a clay-gravel-placed
on the wet side of the
optimum moisture content.

soil
sandy clay
clay-gravel

..

..

..

..

rr,

KS

8::

o-3
04s

o-5
0

a;- I(,.4

0; - Kf.q
(F dS

&

Fig.2.

-1.0)

ii

For K= Ko

For K=Kf

0.75
oa

O-72
0.50

In practice, the accuracy of such an estimate is limited by the fact that both A and B
are influenced by the magnitude of the
stresses, and that A is not independent of
the principal stress ratio. For a more exact
estimate of 8, tests have also been carried
out in which the natural sequence of stressing
is followed more closely, by increasing both
principal stresses simultaueously so as to
maintain the condition either of zero lateral
yield or of a constant factor of safety against
failure. A typical set of results (Fii. 2) indicates that the same type of result is obtained
as is predicted in Table 1.

lIb/sq.m~

PORE-PRESSURE
CHANGES
OCCURRING
DURING RAPID DRAW-DOWN

The hfhMaUXotpdUdpdB~T8liO
Onthe4pOre-prmm~t8.

In a similar manner, the initial pore

pressure on rapid draw-down may be estimated in terms of the reduction in the principal stresses due to the removal of the water
load.
The initial pore pressure in an element of soil beneath the upstream slope of an earth
dam in which steady seepage is established (Fii. 3) is ~0, where :
(Bodderclay:w

opt. + 1 percent)

rc, = yw. [ha + hr + hw - k]

(5)

After rapid drawdown this will change to N, where

u=n,-,+Au.
and
Thus,

Aw =B.Av,

u =~+ii.Aq

.........

.........

(7)

.....

(W

THE

USE

OF PORE-PRESSURE

151

COEFFICIENTS

FJig.3. Calculationofporapremmua~rapid
draw-dowzb
u=yv.[h@+&.(l

-Z.n)+&.(l

-S)-h]

If, as before, the major principal stress is taken as being equal to the vertical head of
material (soil and water) above the element, then,
before draw-down
and after draw-down

(e&l =yc&
+yt.h, +yr.Jrw
q = yc.h, + y,,&
. . .

.
.

.
.

.
.

.
.

.
.

(9)

* (10)

where yc denotes the saturated density of the clay fill,

y, denotes the saturated density of the rock fill,
yr~rdenotes the drained density of the rock till,
and
yWdenotes the density of water.
Thus,

Now

do, = (01) -

y,d=yr-%.yw

(&

= -

[(Yr- Yrd).hr+

ydwl
.

- - - . (11)

(12)

(13)

(14)

where n denotes the specific porosity of the free-draining rock fill.

Hence,

do, = -y,#.[n.hy

+&I

From equations (5) and (8) it then follows that :

u = yw.[h, + h, . (1 - 6.n)

+ &.

(1 - E) - h]

It can be seen from equation (14) that, on draw-down, the lower the value of B the greater
will be the residual pore pressure and, therefore, the lower will be the factor of safety. It is
thus of interest to examine the range of B values which may be expected in practice.
For fully saturated soils, B will be almost equal to unity, and the upper limit of A, in
practice, is also unity. The changes in total stress on draw-down are represented by a
decrease in major principal stress and, as the shear stress is increased, by an even larger drop
in minor principal stress. It follows immediately from equation (1) that, with A = 1,
B = B= 1, and that, for lower values of A, B > B, and hence B > 1. As a safe working
rule, therefore, B may be taken as unity (Bishop, 1952).
The expression for u then simplifies to the form :

u=y,,,.[he+hr.(l

-n)

-h]

(15)

This has been found to give satisfactory agreement with field measurements in the case
of the Almva Dam, in which values of both h and u were obtained (Glover, Gibbs, and
Daehn, 1943).
Full saturation will not n-y
always occur in practice. In this case, B is less than
unity but, as its magnitude depends on the sign of the change in stress, the values of A and
B measured in the conventional undrained test with increasing principal stresses are not
applicable. The test procedure which has therefore been used consists, firstly, of allowing
the sample to come to equilibrium under values of total major and minor principal stress
and pore pressure corresponding to a typical element under the steady seepage conditiona flow of water being maintained through the sample to reproduce a representative degree of

BISHOP:

PORE-PRESSURE

Before draw-down
o1 = 44 lb/sq. in.
0, = 36 ,, I,
00 = 23 .I #I

Pig.

4.

COEFFICIENTS

After draw-down
oI = 30 lb/sq. in.
08 = 15 1, ,,
u = 12 II ,, (measured in the triaxial test)

pore-presmrs
coefficient B on draw-down

Laboratory test b determhs

(Moraine: w = opt. + 1 per cent)

The principal stresses are then reduced, under undrained conditions, to resaturation.
produce the decrease in major principal stress and increase in shear stress consequent
on draw-down, and the corresponding changes in pore pressure are measured. The shear
stresses at each stage are deduced from a typical slip circle passing through the element under
consideration.
Tests carried out on a moraine and on a clay-gravel (boulder clay) give values of B
between 1.1 and 1.4. As the degree of saturation is best indicated by the value of B, the
reduction in stress is carried out in two stages-an equal reduction in both q and us to give
the value of B, and a further reduction in u3 to give the additional shear stress and the value
of B.
In the test illustrated in Fig. 4, the value of fi was 1.14. The corresponding value of B
for a reduction in all-round stress was 0.57. This difference indicates the marked influence
on the pore pressure of the change in shear stress, which is associated, in this case, with an
A value of = 1.0.
Values of B less than unity are, of course, possible for lower values of the increment of
shear. stress. The probabk range of values has not yet been investigated in detail, but it
is possible that the lower B values may, in practice, be associated with shear stresses whose
magnitude is insufficient to lead to draw-down failure.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The laboratory tests referred to in this article were carried out in the Civil Engineering
Department
of Imperial College, University of London, and the Author is indebted to

Dr A. R. H. El Ramli and Mr A. J. Watt, who performed most of the tests.

REFERENCES
A. W., 1952. Ph.D. Thesis, London.
A. W., and Henkel, D. J., 1953. Pore Pressure Changes during Shear in Two Undisturbed Clays.
Proc. Third Int. Conf. Soil Mech., 1 : 94.

BISHOP,
BISHOP,

Influence of Duration of Tests at Constant Rate of Strain on

Gdotechnique, 4 : 1 : 6.
Measured Drained Strengid.
Deformability of Earth Materials and its Effect
GLOVER, R. E., GIBBS, H. J., and DAEHN, W. W., 1948.
Proc. Second Int. Conf. Soil Mech. 5: 77.
on the Stability of Earth Dams following a Rapid Drawdown.
Proc. European Conf. on Stability
A Landslide at Jackfield.
HENKEL, D. J., and SKEMPTON,A. W., 1954.
of Earth Slopes, Stockholm, 1 : 90.
SKEMPTON, A. W., 1954.
The Pore-Pressure Coefficients A and B. Gt!otechnique, 4 : 4 : 143.
The Gain in Stability due to Pore Pressure Dissipation in a
SKEMPTON, A. W., and BISHOP, A. W.. 1955.
Proc. Fifth Cong. Large Dams, Paris.
Soft Clay Foundation.
GIBSON. R. E.. and HENKEL. D. T.. 1954.