August 23

LATERAL PRESSURE

August 23

Retaining walls withstand lateral (horizontal) pressures.

►Retained material may be natural soil or other selected soil
Backfill exerts horizontal pressure on the wall. The pressure tries
to move the wall from position. The wall should be so designed
as to keep it stable in its position.
►If the wall is rigid and does not move with pressure exerted,
the soil behind the wall will be in a state of elastic equilibrium

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RANKINE’S LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE THEORY

Assumptions
• There is no wall friction
• Ground and failure surfaces are straight planes
• The resultant force acts parallel to the backfill slope

August 23

Consider a rigid wall with vertical face, backfilled with

cohesionless soil:
If the wall does not move after backfilling, the pressure
exerted on the wall is termed as earth pressure at rest
condition of the wall.

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If the wall gradually rotates about base and moves away from the
backfill, the pressure on wall gradually reduces.

• After a particular displacement of the wall

at the top, the pressure reaches a constant
value.

This pressure, the minimum possible, is termed active pressure

since the weight of backfill is responsible for movement of the
wall.

August 23

If the wall rotates towards the backfill, the pressure on the wall
increases from the value of at rest condition to the maximum
value possible.

The maximum pressure developed is termed the passive earth

pressure, because the weight of the backfill opposes movement
of the wall.
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AT REST CONDITION
If the wall is rigid and does not move with the pressure exerted
on the wall, the soil behind the wall will be in a state of elastic
equilibrium.

August 23

If the backfill is homogeneous, both σv and σh increase linearly with

depth z; ratio of σh to σv remains constant with respect to depth

K0 is called the coefficient of earth pressure for the at rest condition

or at rest earth pressure coefficient.

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The lateral earth pressure σh acting on the wall at any

depth z may be expressed as:
 h  K 0 z

The expression for σh at depth H, the height of the wall, is:

 h  K 0 H
The total pressure force P0 for the soil for the at rest condition
is: 1
P0  K 0H
2

2
K 0  1  sin 
August 23

Typical Coefficients of earth pressure for at rest condition

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Active Failure

If the mass is subjected to horizontal deformation, pressure

decreases until the soil mobilizes ultimate shear resistance, i.e. at
a condition of plastic equilibrium.

Further stretching causes plastic flow without changing the stress

state. And the transition from the state of plastic equilibrium to
the state of plastic flow represents failure of the mass.

Since the weight of the soil assists in producing an expansion in a

horizontal direction, subsequent failure is called active failure.
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Passive Failure

If the soil mass is compressed in a horizontal direction, the

horizontal pressure on increases.

Since the lateral compression of the soil is resisted by the weight

of the soil, subsequent failure is called a passive failure.

August 23

Coefficient of earth pressure for the active state

1  sin 
KA =
1  sin 

Coefficient of earth pressure for the passive state

Kp = 1  sin 
1  sin 

1
Therefore KP 
KA
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SMOOTH VERTICAL WALL WITH COHESIONLESS BACKFILL

Backfill Horizontal-Active Earth Pressure

The lateral active pressure at A is p A   HK A

August 23

The total pressure force on AB is therefore

PA acts at a height H/3 above the base of the wall.

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Backfill Horizontal-Passive Earth Pressure

The passive pressure PP at A is:

The total pressure against the wall is: p P   HK P

August 23

ACTIVE PRESSURE VS. PASSIVE PRESSURES

It is active pressure that produces destabilizing earth pressure
force behind a retaining wall

There may develop passive pressure at

the toe of the wall.
• But this is commonly ignored without
significant error.

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ADDITIONAL PRESSURES ON WALL

Apart from the soil pressure, there are:
• Water pressure
• Surcharge (loads imposed on surface e.g. traffic, stockpiles, etc.)
• Earthquake pressure (dynamic analysis)
Forces from these additional pressures get superimposed onto
the earth pressure force to give the total lateral force

August 23

ACTIVE PRESSURE WITH SUBMERGED BACKFILL SOIL

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ACTIVE PRESSURE WITH SURCHARGE

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2021/22 Examination
a) A 6m high wall retains a cohesionless backfill soil of dry unit weight
18kN/m3 and angle of friction of 300. If the surface is horizontal and
groundwater table is below the wall bottom, using Rankine’s theory,
find the total active force per unit wall length and its point of action.
b) Determine the percentage change in total pressure under each of the
following circumstances:
• The top of the backfill carrying a uniform surcharge of 6kN/m2
• The water table rises to a level 2m below the top of the wall such
that the backfill below the water table is under submerged condition.
Saturated unit weight of the backfill soil is 19kN/m3.

August 23

2022/23 Examination

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Questions
a) A retaining wall is to resist a horizontal force of 150kN/m wall length from
cohesionless backfill soil of dry unit weight 18kN/m3 and angle of friction
300. If groundwater table is 10m below the horizontal ground surface,
using Rankine’s theory, determine the theoretical maximum wall height.
b) Determine the new maximum wall height if:
• Groundwater table rises to the surface and saturated unit weight of
the backfill soil is 19kN/m3
• There is uniform surcharge pressure of 15kN/m2 on backfill surface

August 23

Discussion

1. Unit weight of soil affects the magnitude of lateral pressure. What

are some of the soil properties that influence its unit weight and
how do you handle such in design and construction practice?

2. How might use of heavy rollers to compact soil adjacent to earth

retaining walls affect lateral pressure? How important is control of
compactive energy for backfills behind retaining walls?

3. Water pressure behind the earth retaining wall contributes to the

lateral pressure. What practical solutions do you as an engineer
propose to control water pressure?
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Limitations

† Backfill is typically granular, cohesionless (frictional) soil.

† Normally consolidated. No consideration of OCR

† Not considered cohesive soils e.g. clay as backfill material.

† Not considered lateral pressure for sloping surfaces.

August 23

STABILITY OF RETAINING WALLS

The stability of retaining walls is usually checked for:
► Sliding
► Overturning
► Bearing capacity failure
► Base shear failure
Factors of safety for stability depend on design code. Typical minimums are:
► 1.5 against sliding
► 2.0 against overturning
► 3.0 against bearing capacity failure

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