LateralEarthPressure

&
R t i i gW ll
RetainingWalls

Dr Ir Luthfi Hasan
Dr.Ir.LuthfiHasan

Reg : 1.2.500.2.31.09.03.02978

LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE & RETAINING WALLS

Contents

K0, active & passive states

Rankines earth pressure theory

D i
Design
off retaining
t i i
walls
ll

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Main References

Das, B.M. (2002). Principles of

Geotechnical Engineering,
Engineering 5th edition,
edition
Brooks/Cole Thomson Learning

Das, B.M. (2004). Principles of Foundation

Engineering, 5th edition, Brooks/Cole
Thomson Learning

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

Tie rod
Anchor

Sheet pile

Cantilever
retaining wall

Braced excavation

Anchored sheet pile

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Lateral Support
We have to estimate the lateral soil pressures acting on
th
these
structures,
t t
to
t be
b able
bl to
t design
d i them.
th

Gravity Retaining
wall

Soil nailing

Reinforced earth wall

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Retaining Walls

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Retaining wall-Gabion

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Retaining wall after construction

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Sheet Pile

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Soil Nailing

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Sheet Pile

Sheet piles marked for driving

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Sheet Pile

Sheet pile wall

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Sheet Pile

During installation

Sheet pile wall

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Lateral Support
Reinforced earth walls are increasingly becoming popular.
popular
geosynthetics

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Lateral Support
Crib walls have been used in Queensland.

filled with
soil

Good drainage & allow plant growth.

Looks good.

Interlocking
stretchers
and headers

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Earth Pressure at Rest

In a homogeneous natural soil deposit,
GL

v
h

the ratio h/v is a constant known as coefficient

of earth pressure at rest (K0).
)
Importantly, at K0 state, there are no lateral strains.
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Estimating K0
For normally consolidated clays and granular soils,
K0 = 1 sin
For overconsolidated clays,
K0,overconsolidated = K0,normally consolidated OCR0.5
From elastic analysis,
analysis

K0 =

Poissons
ratio

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Active/Passive Earth Pressures

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Active/Passive Earth Pressures

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Active/Passive Earth Pressures

v=1
h=3
v=3
h=1

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Active/Passive Earth Pressures

- in granular soils
Wall moves
away from soil
A

Wall moves
towards soil
B
smooth wall

Lets look at the soil elements A and B during the

wall movement.
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Active Earth Pressure

- in granular soils
v = z
v z
h

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
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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
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Active Earth Pressure

- in granular soils

WJM Rankine
(1820-1872)

[[h]]active

[ h ' ]active = K A v '

1 sin
KA =
= tan 2 ( 45 / 2)
1 + sin

Rankines coefficient of
active earth pressure
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Active Earth Pressure

- in granular soils

Failure plane is at
45 + /2 to horizontal

v
h

45 + /2

90+

[h]]active
acti e

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Active Earth Pressure

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

K0 state
Active
state

wall movement

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Active Earth Pressure

- in cohesive soils

Follow the same steps as

for granular soils. Only
difference is that c 0.

[ h ' ]active = K A v '2c K A

Everything else the same
as for granular soils.
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Passive Earth Pressure

- in granular soils
Initially soil is in K0 state.
Initially,
state
As the wall moves towards the soil,
v
h

v remains the same, and

h increases till failure occurs.
Passive state

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Passive Earth Pressure

- in granular soils
As the wall moves towards the soil,

Initially (K0 state)

Failure (Active state)

passive earth
pressure

increasing h
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Passive Earth Pressure

- in granular soils

[[h]]passive

[ h ' ] passive = K P v '

1 + sin
KP =
= tan 2 ( 45 + / 2)
1 sin

Rankines coefficient of
passive earth pressure
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Passive Earth Pressure

- in granular soils

Failure plane is at
45 - /2 to horizontal

v
h

45 - /2

90+

[h]]passive

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Passive Earth Pressure

- in granular soils
As the wall moves towards the soil,
h increases till failure occurs.
v
h

Passive state

B
K0 state
wall movement

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Passive Earth Pressure

- in cohesive soils

Follow the same steps as

for granular soils. Only
difference is that c 0.

[ h ' ] ppassive = K P v '+2c K P

Everything else the same
as for granular soils.
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Earth Pressure Distribution

- in granular soils
[h]active
PA andd PP are the
th
resultant active and
passive thrusts on
the wall

[h]passive

PA=0.5
h

KAH2

PP=0.5 KPh2

KPh

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

Rankines Earth Pressure Theory

[ h ' ]active = K A v '2c K A

[ h ' ] passive = K P v '+2c K P

Assumes smooth wall
Applicable only on vertical walls

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Rankines Earth Pressure Theory

K a = cos

K p = cos

cos cos 2 cos 2

cos + cos 2 cos 2

cos + cos 2 cos 2

cos cos 2 cos 2

2
K a = tan 45

=0

2
K p = tan 45 +

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Earth pressure distribution

q

1
2

2
P1 = H1 K a

H1

H1..Ka

P1

P3 = H1.H2 K a

sat

1 '
2
1
2
P5 = w H2
2

2
P 4 = K a H2

P2
H2

P 2 = q K a (H1 + H2 )

P3
P4
q.Ka

P5
H2..Ka

H2.w
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Retaining Walls - Applications

Road
Train

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Retaining Walls - Applications

highway

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Retaining Walls - Applications

High-rise building

basement wall

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Gravity Retaining Walls

cement mortar

plain concrete or
stone masonry
cobbles

They rely on their self weight to

support the backfill
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Cantilever Retaining Walls

Reinforced;
R
i f
d
smaller section
than gravity
walls

They act like vertical cantilever,

fixed to the ground
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Design of Retaining Wall

- in granular soils
Analyse the stability of this rigid body with
vertical walls (Rankine theory valid)

Block no.

1
1

toe
toe
Wi = weight of block i
xi = horizontal distance of centroid of block i from toe
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Retaining Wall-Stability
* Sliding
* Overturning
*B
Bearing
i C
Capacity
it F
Failure
il
* Overall failure

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Retaining Wall-Stability
Overturning

Sliding

MR
MR

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Safety against sliding along the base

Fsliding =

soil-concrete friction
angle 0.5 0.7

PP + {Wi }. tan + B. ca
PA
adhesion 0.5 0.7 c

to be greater
than 1.5
2

PA

PA

PP

S
toe

h PP

toe

R
x

PP= 0.5 KPh2

PA= 0.5 KAH2

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Safety against overturning about toe

Foverturning =

PP h / 3 + {Wi xi }
PA H/3

to be greater
than 1.5
2

PA

PA

PP

S
toe

h PP

toe

R
x

Safety against bearing capacity failure

PA

PA

PP

S
toe

h PP
R

S
toe

R
x

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Safety against bearing capacity failure

x = M netto =

Wi

{Wi x i } PA H/3
Wi

1
e = Bx
2
x

qmax

q min =

qmin

Wi 1 6e

2 = Wi 1 + 6e q
q max = Wi +
all
B
B
B
1
B3
12
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Wi .e.

Calculate the factor of safety with respect to

overturning, sliding and bearing capacity failure

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