Question

The vertical and the lateral pressures have the same angle of obliquity β.

(a) True

(b) False

This question was addressed to me in a job interview.

Question is from Active Earth Pressure: Rankine’s Theory in portion Failure Envelopes & Earth Pressure of Geotechnical Engineering II

Answer 1

Right option is (a) True

For explanation I would say: In Rankine’s theory, the additional assumption of the vertical and lateral stresses are conjugate is made. Being conjugate, both the vertical and the lateral pressures have the same angle of obliquity β.