Thursday, September 5, 2013

Rankine's Earth Pressure Theory

Rankine's earth pressure theory is widely used in analyzing the lateral pressure exerted by earth to a vertical wall (e.g. Retaining Wall) as long as it meets certain assumptions used in this theory.
Assumptions are the wall should be vertical and the friction resistance between the wall and the soil is neglected and the soil should be granular.

Pressures acting on the soil consists of three types; active, passive and at rest.

Rankine's coefficients are Ka for active, Kp for passive and Ko for at rest.

Applications:

1. Active pressure - assumed as horizontal neglecting the friction between soil and wall. This friction force gives a stabilizing