Abstract: The conduits under high earth-fill have become more widely used in gully area in Western China; but the calculation of the circumjacent earth pressure on it is still not very clear. That needs further study. Based on the field tests on circumjacent earth pressure of the coal handling conduit in Shuozhou of Shanxi Province, the distribution and variation laws of the circumjacent earth pressures, stress state around the conduit are obtained. The test results show that there is a stress concentration for vertical earth pressure at the top of the coal conduit. The earth pressure increases faster when the filling height is lower; but the ratio of increase gets slower for the vertical earth pressure on the side of the conduit. The soil core method is preferably used when the filling height is lower; but the formula named ‘Gu Anquan’ is preferably applied to calculating the vertical earth pressure. Comparing culverts and underground penstock, the dimensions and rigidities of the high fill channels are larger, and using the coefficient of earth pressure at rest is recommended when calculating the coefficient of lateral earth pressure.

Key words: high earth-fill, earth pressure, coefficient of earth pressure, field test