 2021/2022

CHAPTER FOUR

LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE

4. Introduction
A retaining wall is a structure that is used to support a vertical or near vertical slopes of soil. The resulting
horizontal stress from the soil on the wall is called lateral earth pressure. To determine the magnitude of
the lateral earth pressure, a geotechnical engineer must know the basic soil parameters – that is, unit
weight ɣ, angle of friction ф, and cohesion c for the soil retained behind the wall. In the evaluation of the
magnitude of this lateral earth pressure, it is assumed that the soil behind the wall (called backfill soil) is
on the verge of failure and obeys some failure criterion, for example, the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion.
When you complete this chapter, you should be able to:
 Understand lateral earth pressure.
 Determine lateral earth pressure.
4.1 Definitions of Key Terms
At rest earth pressure coefficient (𝒌𝒐 ) is the ratio between the lateral and vertical principal effective
stresses when an earth retaining structure is at rest (or is not allowed to move at all).
Active earth pressure coefficient (𝒌𝒂 ) is the ratio between the lateral and vertical principal effective
stresses when an earth retaining structure moves away from the retained soil.
Passive earth pressure coefficient (𝒌𝒑 ) is the ratio between the lateral and vertical principal effective
stresses when an earth retaining structure is forced to move against a soil mass.
4.2 Lateral Earth Pressure at Rest
Consider a vertical wall of height H, as shown in Fig. 4.1, retaining a soil having a unit weight of ɣ. At
any depth z below the ground surface the vertical stress is:
(4.1)
If the wall is not allowed to move at all either way from the soil mass or to the soil mass (or in other
words if there is no lateral expansion or compression in the backfill soil), the lateral pressure is called at
rest earth pressure. In this case, the lateral earth pressure s at a depth z is:

ℎ𝑜 =𝑘𝑜 𝜎𝑣 =𝑘𝑜 𝜸z (4.2)

Where, 𝑘𝑜 is coefficient of earth pressure at rest. You must remember that 𝑘𝑜 applies only to effective
stresses not to total stresses. The magnitude of 𝑘𝑜 depends on the type of the soil, its degree of
compaction, plasticity characteristics, and degree of disturbance (Bishop, 1958).

 
 2021/2022

For truly normally consolidated soil that exhibits zero cohesion, a value for k0 may be calculated from the
following generally accepted empirical equation (Jaky, 1948):'

(4.3)
4.3 Active and Passive Lateral Earth Pressures
The lateral earth pressure condition described in section 4.2 involves walls that do not yield at all. In this
section, we will discuss other conditions that involve movement of the wall and consequently failure of
the backfill soil. Failure of the backfill soil occurs by two mechanisms depending on the direction of wall
displacement. If the displacement of the wall is away from the backfill soil the resulting failure is called
active and the lateral pressure exerted on the wall by the backfill soil is called active lateral earth pressure
or simply active earth pressure. A passive failure occurs if the wall is displaced towards the backfill soil
until the limiting displacement is achieved. In this case, the wall exerts a pressure on the backfill soil, and
the passive resistance provided by the backfill soil against the wall displacement is called passive earth
pressure.
In the next sections, we will deal with two active and passive earth pressure theories: one proposed by
Rankine (1857) and the other by Coulomb (1776).

4.4 Rankine Active and Passive Earth Pressures

Consider a vertical frictionless (smooth) wall retaining a soil mass in both front and back of the
wall as shown in Fig. 4.2a. If the wall remains rigid and no movement occurs, then the vertical and
horizontal (lateral) effective stresses at rest on element A, at the back of the wall, and B, at the front of the
wall are given by Eqns. (4.1 and 4.2) in section 4.2. Mohr’s circle for at rest state is shown by circle ①in
Fig. 4.2b.
Let us now assume a rotation about the bottom of the wall sufficient to produce slip planes in the soil
mass behind and in front of the wall (Fig. 4.3). The rotation required, and consequently the lateral
displacement or strain, to produce slip planes in front of the wall is much larger than that required for the
back of the wall, as shown in Fig. 4.4. The soil mass at the back of the wall is assisting in producing
failure, thus it is in the active pressure state while the soil mass at the front of the wall is resisting failure,
thus in the passive pressure state.

 
 2021/2022

What happens to the lateral effective stresses on elements A and B when the wall is rotated? The
vertical stress will not change on either element but the lateral effective stress on element A will be
reduced while that for element B will be increased. We can now plot two additional Mohr’s circles: to
represent the stress states of element A (circle ②) and the other to represent the stress state of element B
(circle ③). Both circles are drawn such that the decrease (element A) or increase (element B) in lateral
effective stresses is sufficient to bring the soil to Mohr-coulomb failure state. In other words, both circles
② and ③ will touch the Mohr-coulomb failure line as Shown in Fig.4.3b. For element B to reach the
failure state, the lateral effective stress must be greater than the vertical effective stress, as shown if Fig.
4.3b.
The stress states of soil elements A and B are called the Rankine active state and the Rankine passive
state, respectively (Named after the first developer of this theory Rankine, 1857). Each of these Rankine
states is associated with a family of failure planes. For the Rankine active state, the failure planes are
oriented at:

 
 2021/2022

to the horizontal, as illustrated in Fig. 3.3 b and proved in Chapter 1 (Eqn. 1.12). For the Rankine passive
state, the failure planes are oriented at:

to the horizontal as illustrated in Fig. 3.3 a.

For the active state, the lateral stress 𝝈𝟑 is equal to 𝝈𝒉𝒂 as shown in Fig. 4.2b (Mohr’s circle ②). The
Rankine active lateral effective stress is:

is called the active earth pressure coefficient.

For the passive state, the lateral stress 𝝈𝒉𝒑 becomes the major principal stress 𝝈𝟏 and the vertical
stress 𝝈𝒗 becomes the minor principal stress 𝝈𝟑 as shown in Fig. 4.2b (Mohr’s circle ③). Therefore,
using Chapter-1, the Rankine passive lateral stress is:

is called the passive earth pressure coefficient. Based on Eqns. (4.7 and 4.9), we can easily get the
following relation for the active and passive earth pressure coefficients:

1
𝑘𝑝 = 𝑘 ( 4.10)
𝑎
Equations (4.6) and (4.8) indicate that, for a homogeneous soil layer, the lateral earth pressure varies
linearly with depth z.

 
 2021/2022

Figure 4.4 shows the active and passive lateral stress distribution for a smooth wall retaining a c-ф
soil. In the active state case, the soil at depth z = 0 is subjected to a tensile stress as shown in Fig. 4.5b.
Soils do not have tensile strength, as a result tension cracks will occur down to a depth 𝐳𝟎 , where the
tensile stress becomes zero.
At depth 𝐳𝐨 (known as depth of tension crack), the stress is zero, thus,

The lateral earth force is the area of the lateral stress diagram (Fig. 4.4), which for the Rankine active
state is:

and, for the Rankine passive state, is

For most retaining wall construction, a granular backfill is used and c = 0, therefore, for granular soils
Eqns. (4.12) and (4.13) can be rewritten as:

 
 2021/2022

4.5 Lateral Earth Pressure due to Surcharge

Surface stresses (due to surcharge) also impose lateral pressure on retaining walls as illustrated in
Fig. 4.5d. A uniform surface stress, q, will transmit a uniform active lateral earth pressure of 𝑲𝒂 𝒒 and a
uniform passive lateral earth pressure of 𝑲𝒑 𝒒. The active and passive lateral stresses due to the soil
i.e. (c-ф soil), and the uniform surfaces stresses are then:

The corresponding active and passive lateral forces are also given by:

Figure 4.5: Variation of active and passive lateral earth pressures, hydrostatic pressure, and a uniform
surface stress with depth. (Note: backfill soil is granular).
For a (c - ф) backfill, Eqns. (4.16) and (4.17) will become:

The corresponding active and passive lateral forces are also given by:

 
 2021/2022

Note that for purely cohesive saturated clay with undrained shear strength Parameter of 𝑐𝑢 and ф𝑢 =0, 𝑘𝑎
= 𝑘𝑝 = 1.
4.6 Lateral Earth Pressure When Groundwater is Present
If groundwater is present, you need to add the hydrostatic pressure (pore water pressure) to the lateral
earth pressure. For example, if the groundwater level is at a distance ℎ𝑤 from the base of the wall as
shown in Fig. 3.6, the hydrostatic pressure is,

4.7 Summary of Rankine Lateral Earth Pressure Theory

1. The lateral earth pressures on retaining walls are related directly to the vertical effective stress
through two coefficients 𝑘𝑎 and 𝑘𝑝 .
2. Substantially more movement is required to mobilize the full passive earth pressure than the full
active earth pressure.
3. A family of slip planes occurs in the Rankine active and passive states. In the active state, the slip
planes are oriented at (450 + ф / 2) to the horizontal, and while for the passive case they are oriented at
(450 - ф / 2) to the horizontal.
4.8 Rankine Active & Passive Earth Pressure for Inclined Granular Backfill
If the backfill of a frictionless retaining wall is a granular soil (c = 0, ф) and rises at an angle β (β ≤ ф)
with respect to the horizontal (Figure 4.6), the Rankine active earth pressure coefficient 𝐤 𝐚 is expressed in
the form:

Note that, the direction of the lateral force 𝐏𝐚 is inclined at an angle β to the horizontal and intersects the
wall at a distance of H/3 from the base of the wall.

 
 2021/2022

The Rankine passive pressure coefficient 𝐤 𝐩 for a wall with a granular sloping backfill is:

The Rankine passive stress and passive lateral force are calculated using equations similar to Eqns. (4.22
and 4.23) in which 𝐤 𝐚 is replaced by 𝐤 𝐩 . As in the case of the active force, the resultant force 𝐏𝐩 is
inclined at angle β with the horizontal and intersects the wall at a distance of H/3 from the bottom of the
wall.
4.9 Coulomb’s Earth Pressure Theory
As described in the previous sections, the Rankine earth pressure theory: (1) assumes the retaining wall is
frictionless (or smooth), and (2) considers stress states and uses such tools as the Mohr’s circle of stress.
Coulomb (1776) proposed a theory to determine the lateral earth pressure on a retaining wall by assuming
a granular backfill (c = 0) and a plane sliding surface. He did this in order to simplify somewhat the
mathematically complex problem introduced when cohesion and non-plane sliding surfaces are
considered. He, however, account for the effects of friction (usually expressed by angle (δ) between the
backfill and the wall. Besides, he considered the more general case of the sloped face of a retaining wall,
and in this respect, Coulomb’s theory is a more general approach than the Rankine theory described
earlier.

Figure 4.7: Direction of active and passive forces when wall friction is present.

 
 2021/2022

Coulomb assumed a wedge shape collapse mechanism which is bounded by the face of the retaining wall,
a horizontal or inclined ground surface and a linear failure plane. The wedge slides downwards on the
failure plane in the active state or upwards in the passive state. Figure 4.7 illustrates direction of active
and passive forces when wall friction is present.

Figure 4.8: Retaining wall with slopping back, wall friction, and sloping soil surface for use with
coulomb’s method for active state.

Based on Coulomb’s theory, a condition of limit equilibrium exists through which a wedge of a
soil mass behind a retaining wall will slip along a plane inclined at an angle Ѳ to the horizontal.
Figure 4.8 illustrates a retaining wall with slopping back, wall friction, and sloping soil surface for use
with Coulomb’s method for active state. Based on the equilibrium of the forces acting on the wedge
(Fig. 4.9), Coulomb proposed the following equation to determine the active lateral force,

Where kac is Coulomb’s active pressure coefficient, which is determined by the following
expression

Note that the line of action of the active force 𝐏𝐚 will act at a distance H/3 above the base of the
wall and will be inclined at angle δ to the normal drawn to the back of the wall. In the actual design of
 𝟐
retaining walls, the value of the wall friction angle δ, is assumed to be between and
𝟐 𝟑
. Retaining walls
are generally constructed of masonry or mass concrete. Table 4.1 shows the general range of the values of
 for various backfill materials.

 
 2021/2022

Coulomb’s passive earth pressure is determined similarly, except that passive pressure inclination at the
wall and direction of the forces acting on the wedge will be as shown in Fig. 4.9. Coulomb’s passive earth
pressure is given by:

Where kpc is Coulomb’s passive pressure coefficient, which is determined by the

Following equation.

Figure 4.9: Retaining wall with sloping back, wall friction, and sloping soil surface for use with
coulomb’s method for passive state.

 