Coefficient of Earth Pressure at Rest
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 11
Abstract
The widely used Jaky coefficient of earth pressure at rest, , is revisited. It is demonstrated that this coefficient was derived from an analysis of the stress state in a sand prism that yields an unrealistic stress field. It is also surprising that the at rest stress state is represented as a function of the limit state parameter (internal friction angle). Consequently, one arrives at the conclusion that reasonable predictions made by classical are somewhat coincidental. Jaky’s solution to is discussed in view of more recent research on the stress fields in prismatic mounds of sand.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writer thanks Dr. Youssef Hashash of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, for making the translation of the paper of Jaky available. The work presented in this paper was carried out while the writer was supported by the Army Research Office, Grant No. USARODAAD19-03-1-0063. This support is greatly appreciated.
References
Booker, J. R. (1969). “Applications of of the theory of plasticity to cohesive-frictional soils.” PhD thesis, Univ. of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Brooker, E. W., and Ireland, H. O. (1965). “Earth pressures at rest related to stress history.” Can. Geotech. J., 2(1), 1–15.
Didwania, A. K., Cantelaube, F., and Goddard, J. D. (2000). “Static multiplicity of stress states in granular heaps.” Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 456, 2569–2588.
Hayat, T. M. (1992). “The coefficient of earth pressure at rest.” PhD thesis, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Ill.
Hummel, F. H., and Finnan, E. J. (1920). “The distribution of pressure on surfaces supporting a mass of granular material.” Minutes of Proc., Institute of Civil Engineering, Session 1920–1921, Part II, Selected Papers, 212, 369–392.
Jaky, J. (1944). “The coefficient of earth pressure at rest. In Hungarian (A nyugalmi nyomas tenyezoje).” J. Soc. Hung. Eng. Arch. (Magyar Mernok es Epitesz-Egylet Kozlonye), 355–358.
Jaky, J. (1948). “Pressure in silos.” Proc., 2nd Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Rotterdam, The Netherland, 1, 103–107.
Jefferies, M. G., Crooks, J. H. A., Becker, D. E., and Hill, P. R. (1987). “Independence of geostatic stress from overconsolidation in some Beaufort Sea clays.” Can. Geotech. J., 24(3), 342–356.
Mayne, P. W., and Kulhawy, F. H. (1988). “Independence of geostatic stress from overconsolidation in some Beaufort Sea clays: Discussion.” Can. Geotech. J., 25, 617–621.
Mayne, P. W., and Kulhawy, F. H. (1982). “ – OCR relationship in soil.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 108(6), 851–872.
Mesri, G., and Feng, T. W. (1988). Independence of geostatic stress from overconsolidation in some Beaufort Sea clays: Discussion. Can. Geotech. J., 25, 621–624.
Mesri, G., and Hayat, T. M. (1993). “The coefficient of earth pressure at rest.” Can. Geotech. J., 30, 647–666.
Michalowski, R. L., and Park, N. (2004). “Admissible stress fields and arching in piles of sand.” Geotechnique, 54(8), 529–538.
Michalowski, R. L., and Park, N. (2005). “Arching in granular soils.” Proc., Geomechanics: Testing, Modeling and Simulation, ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication 143, ASCE, Reston, Va., 255–268.
Rankine, W. J. M. (1857). “On the stability of loose earth.” Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London 147, 9–27.
Savage, S. B. (1998). “Modeling and granular material boundaryvalue problems.” NATO Advance Study Institute: Physics of dry granular media, H. J. Herrmann, J.-P. Hovi, and S. Luding, eds., Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherland, 25–95.
Schmidt, B. (1966). “Earth pressures at rest related to stress history. Discussion.” Can. Geotech. J., 3(4), 239–242.
Vanel, L., Howell, D., Clark, D., Behringer, R. P., and Clement, E. (1999). “Memories in sand: Experimental tests of construction history on stress distributions under sandpiles.” Phys. Rev. E, 60(5), R5040–R5043.
Watson, A. (1996). “Searching for the sand-pile pressure dip.” Science 273(5275), 579–580.
Wittmer, J. P., Cates, M. E., and Claudin, P. (1997). “Stress propagation and arching in static sandpiles.” J. Phys. I, 7, 39–80.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 11 • November 2005
Pages: 1429 - 1433
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 28, 2004
Accepted: Apr 1, 2005
Published online: Nov 1, 2005
Published in print: Nov 2005
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.