COEFFICIENT OF EARTH PRESSURE AT REST IN NORMALLY-CONSOLIDATED CLAYS

Abstract

The widely used Jaky coefficient of earth pressure at rest, K 0 , 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 angle͒. Consequently, one arrives at the conclusion that reasonable predictions made by classical K 0 are somewhat coincidental. Jaky's solution to K 0 is discussed in view of more recent research on the stress fields in prismatic mounds of sand.