COEM 6012

GEOTECHNICS IN CONSTRUCTION

Lecture 3
Limiting Earth Pressures
Earth Pressure at Rest

Craig’s Soil Mechanics

by J.A. Knappett & R.F. Craig, 8th ed, Spon Press, 2012
 Retaining Structures
Main Goals: In this chapter we discuss the working principles
behind retaining structures. We solve lateral stress and
design a retaining structure within a limit-state design
framework (Eurocode 7).

Contents
1. Introduction to retaining structures
2. Limiting earth pressures from limit analysis
3. Earth pressure at rest
4. Gravity retaining structures: cantilever reinforced walls
5. Gravity retaining structures: mass gravity walls
6. Coulomb’s theory of earth pressure
7. Embedded walls
8. Reinforced soil
 Limiting Lateral Earth Pressures
- Lower bound stress fields
- Active case for undrained cohesive material (ϕ=0) at failure

pa: active earth pressure

- Passive case for undrained cohesive material (ϕ=0) at failure

pp: passive earth pressure

- Active case for drained cohesionless material (c´=0) at failure

→ →

Ka: active earth pressure coefficient

- Passive case for drained cohesionless material (c´=0) at failure

Kp: passive earth pressure coefficient

 Rankine’s Theory of Earth Pressure
- Lower bound solution based on the method of characteristics for
the case of a soil with general strength parameters c´ & ϕ´
- State of plastic equilibrium
- Active case:

- Passive case:
Example 11.1
 Effect of Wall Properties
- In most practical cases the wall will not be smooth such that shear
stresses may be generated along the soil-wall interface
- Undrained material

- Drained material
• Sloping retained soil
 Earth Pressure at Rest
• Earth pressure at rest, po´: lateral strain in the soil is zero

- Ko: coefficient of earth pressure at rest

- Relationship between lateral strain & lateral pressure coefficient:
the strain required to mobilize the passive pressure is
considerably greater than that required to mobilize the active
pressure
- Minimum deformation conditions to mobilise

Experimental evidence indicates that the mobilisation of full

passive resistance requires a wall movement of the order of 2-4%
of embedded depth in the case of dense sands and of the order of
10-15% in the case of loose sands. The corresponding
percentages for the mobilisation of active pressure are of the
order of 0.25 and 1%, respectively.