Theories of Earth Pressures: CE 407 Foundation Engineering

8/28/2018
CE 407
FOUNDATION ENGINEERING
Prof. Deepankar Choudhury

Institute Chair Professor,
Dept. of Civil Engineering
IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, India
Lecture 8
8/28/2018 IIT Bombay, CE 407, DC 1
Theories of Earth
Pressures
1
8/28/2018
Coulomb’s Active Pressure in Cohesionless Soil
Source: NPTEL e-learning courses (www.nptel.ac.in)
The sliding wedge ABD is in equilibrium under the three forces:

• Weight of the wedge (W).
• Reaction R on the slip surface BD.
• Reaction Pa from the wall (wall reaction )/Earth pressure.
3
Coulomb’s Wedge Theory contd…

• For yielding of the wall away from the backfill, the critical slip
surface is that for which the wall reaction is maximum. The lateral
pressure under this condition is the active pressure.
• The main deficiency of this theory is the assumption that the slip
surface is planar, therefore, the force acting on slide wedge do
not generally meet when in static equilibrium condition. The
actual slip surface is curved, especially in the lower part.
• Coulomb's method does not give the point of application of the
earth pressure (Pa).
• For convenience, the pressure distribution is sometimes

assumed to be hydrostatic on the back of the wall, and the
resultant pressure is assumed to act at one-third height of the
wall from the base.
2
8/28/2018
Coulomb’s Wedge Theory contd…

Following points should be carefully noted while using Coulomb's theory:
• For most practical cases, the backfill moves down relative to the wall in
the Active case, and, therefore, the active force Pa is inclined δ at an
angle below the normal. However, if the wall is supported on a soft,
compressible soil, it may settle to such extent that the movement of the
will be downward relative to the backfill and the relative movement of the
wedge will be upward. In such a case, the force Pa would be inclined at
an angle δ above the normal to the wall.
• The angle δ is the friction angle between the soil and the wall. It may be
determined by means of a direct test. For concrete walls δ is generally
taken as (2/3)ϕ’ . The value of δ can not exceed ϕ’, because in that case
the failure will occur in soil.
• Coulombs method assumes the failure surface to be a plane. The actual
failure surface is slightly curved. Fortunately, for the active case, the
error is small, and the failure surface may be assumed to be planar
without any significant error.
5
Coulomb’s Wedge Theory - Active Earth Pressure

Using the law of sine, we obtain
Pa W Source: NPTEL e-learning courses (www.nptel.ac.in)

sin    ' sin 180       '  
W .sin    '
Pa  ..........(a )
sin 180       '  
Since from figure

AB.sin    i 
BE  ,
sin   i 
AG  AB.sin    
H
AB 
sin 
Therefore, the weight of the soil wedge is
1
W   BE  AG    1
2
H2 sin    i 
W sin       ...........(b)
2sin 2   sin   i 
6
3
8/28/2018
Coulomb’s Wedge Theory - Active Earth Pressure contd…

From eq. (a) it can be seen that the value of Pa= f (α); that is, all
other terms for a given problem are constant. Combining the
eq. (a) and (b), we obtain:
 H2  sin    i   sin    ' 

Pa  sin       .
2sin 2   sin    i           '  
sin 180
Equating the first derivative to zero, dPa  0

d
The maximum value of active wall Force Pa is found to be
 .H 2 sin 2     '
Pa   2
2  sin  '   .sin  ' i  
2
sin  .sin      1   ---------(c)
 sin      .sin    i  
Coulomb’s Wedge Theory - Active Earth Pressure contd…

• If i = δ = 0 and ß = 900 ( a smooth vertical wall with horizontal
backfill), then Eq. (c) simplifies to
 H 2 1  sin  '  H 2  '
Pa    tan  45  
2 1  sin  ' 2  2 --------(d)
• This is also the Rankine’s equation for active earth pressure

equation. Equation takes the general form:
 .H 2 sin 2     ' 
KA 
Pa  .K A where  sin  '   .sin  ' i  
2
2 2
sin  .sin      1  
 sin      .sin    i  
• KA = Coefficient which considers i, β, δ and ϕ’ , but

independent of γ and H.

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8/28/2018

Prof. Deepankar Choudhury

Coulomb’s Active Pressure in Cohesionless Soil

Source: NPTEL e-learning courses (www.nptel.ac.in)

The sliding wedge ABD is in equilibrium under the three forces:

Coulomb’s Wedge Theory contd…

• For convenience, the pressure distribution is sometimes

Coulomb’s Wedge Theory contd…

Coulomb’s Wedge Theory - Active Earth Pressure

Since from figure

Coulomb’s Wedge Theory - Active Earth Pressure contd…

 H2  sin    i   sin    ' 

Equating the first derivative to zero, dPa  0

Coulomb’s Wedge Theory - Active Earth Pressure contd…

• This is also the Rankine’s equation for active earth pressure

• KA = Coefficient which considers i, β, δ and ϕ’ , but

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