Previous laboratory and field experimental studies of earth pressures exerted on retaining structures and laboratory studies of the at-rest earth pressure coefficient are summarized. The current methods used to evaluate the earth pressures due to compaction are reviewed. The design features of a new instrumented oedometer developed to investigate the effect of number of load cycles on the at-rest earth-pressure coefficient are presented along with the results of a series of tests on Monterey sand #0/30. The Instrumented Retaining Wall Facility developed to provide a means of obtaining experimental measurements of the earth pressures exerted on retaining structures is described. The instrumented wall of the facility is seven feet high and ten feet long and is instrumented to measure horizontal and vertical forces, horizontal earth pressures, horizontal deformations, and temperature. A description of the microcomputer-based data-acquisition system and the software used to record the test results is included. The results of four tests where Yatesville silty sand was compacted in layers in the Instrumented Retaining Wall Facility are presented. The experimental results are compared with the results of similar studies by others and to an analytical method used to estimate compaction-induced earth pressures. / Ph. D.