The coefficient of earth pressure at rest K0 is particularly important in the calculation of earth pressure of retaining wall. In this paper

the K0 value of sand with different particle sizes and compactions was studied by centrifugal model tests. Firstly

soil samples were prepared by sand pluviation method

and the designed compactions of sand samples under different types of sand outlets and drop distances were measured by self-made sanding device. Then

through reasonable design of earth pressure measurement model structure

the centrifugal model test was used to simultaneously measure the soil compression and the horizontal earth pressure on the aluminum alloy plate. The variation of the K0 value of sand with different particle sizes and compactions was finally obtained by calculation. The test results showed that

when using the sand pluviation method to prepare the samples

different types of sand outlets and drop distances should be adopted for different soil samples. In the centrifugal model test on the K0 value of sand

the order of soil settlement was #1 sand > #3 sand > #2 sand

and the settlement of #1 sand and #3 sand was close to each other. For sand with the same particle sizes

the K0 value increased gradually with the increase of the relative compaction of soil sample. For sand with different particle sizes

under the same compaction

the larger the sand particle size is

the smaller the K0 value is.