Behavior of Retaining Walls Constructed in the Saturated Clay and Water-Saturated Sand Soils Under the Dynamic Loads

Abstract

Since the main purpose of building retaining walls is to hold up the slopes, the calculations are important during the design process. Although static loads that affect retaining walls are generally taken into consideration, dynamic effects should also be marked in our country located in the earthquake zone. Within the scope of this study, stability checks were performed by taking the effects to the retaining walls subjected to static and dynamic loads and wall designs were also made.
 In this study, behavior of retaining walls constructed in saturated clay soil and water-saturated sand soil have been determined under static and dynamic loads. Analyses of static and dynamic behavior of gravity and cantilever walls have been done by Plaxis 2D software packet program. The heights of the walls are selected such as 5.0 m, 10.0 m and 15.0 m. Active earth pressures are calculated by using Rankine active earth pressure theory. Factor of safeties such as overturning, sliding and bearing capacity are selected as 2.0, 1.5 and 3.0, respectively. Three different earthquake loads such as Van, Turkey, Petrolia-California, USA and Volcano-Hawaii, USA are chosen to determine the dynamic behavior of walls. Records of earthquake loads were taken from “United States Geological Survey” (USGS) official web site. Format of earthquake records is “strong motion CD” (.smc) due to Plaxis 2D software packet program.
 The results of analyses done in the saturated clay showed that 5.0 m and 10.0 m heights of retaining walls can be safely constructed in the earthquake zones having the magnitude up to 7.0. 15.0 m height of retaining walls cannot be safely constructed due to the insufficient wall dimensions. The results of analyses done in the water-saturated sand soil showed that 5.0 m height of retaining walls can be safely constructed in the earthquake zones having the magnitude up to 7.0. While the 10.0 m height of retaining walls can be safely constructed in the earthquake zones having magnitude of 6.0, it cannot be constructed in the earthquake zones having magnitude of 5.0 due to the earthquake acceleration. While the 15.0 m height of retaining walls can be safely constructed in the earthquake zones having magnitude of 6.0, it cannot be safely constructed in the earthquake zones having magnitude of 5.0 and 7.0.