Earth Pressure
Earth Pressure Q: Explain active earth pressure, passive earth pressure and earth pressure at rest Soil is neither a solid nor a liquid, but it exhibits some of the characteristics of both. One of the characteristics similar to that of a liquid is its tendency to exert a lateral pressure against any object in contact. This important property influences the design of retaining walls, abutments, bulkheads, sheet pile walls, basement walls and underground conduits which retain or support soil, and, as such, is of very great significance. Retaining walls are constructed in various fields of civil engineering, such as hydraulics and irrigation structures, highways, railways, tunnels, mining and military engineering. Lateral earth pressure is the force exerted by the soil mass upon an earth-retaining structure, such as a retaining wall In 1929 Terzaghi (The Father of Soil Mechanics) conducted experiments on the retaining wall and showed the relation of pressure on the wall....
