At-rest pressure coefficient – Jáky 1944

Abstract

The article originally titled “A nyugalmi nyomás tényezője” (At-rest pressure coefficient) by Dr József Jáky published in 1944, is among the most cited in geotechnical engineering, and his hypothesis is still valid. However, the fact that it was originally published in Hungarian has partially hindered the understanding of the full formulation of his theory. This has generated that a substantial number of authors sticking only to referencing a simplified version of the equation of at-rest pressure coefficient, k0, without referring to its origin, ignoring in some cases that the proposed equation is analytical and not empirical and that it is applicable to granular materials of any kind, including cereals. This paper supplies a rigorous version of Dr Jáky's original article, to provide information about the formulations, as well as the limits of validity, behind the determination of k0 using the widely known Jáky theory.