Displacement based seismic assessment of base restrained retaining walls

Abstract

The present work deals with assessment of earthquake-induced displacement of the base restrained retaining walls (RW’s). A detailed and rigorous finite element (FE) investigation has been carried out following the shaking table experiments on a scaled-down RW model. The FE simulations were performed by conducting several nonlinear time history analyses on a two-dimensional (2D) plane strain FE model of a prototype RW. The hardening and softening of backfill have been simulated by calibrating the Mohr Coulomb material model against the triaxial test results. Role of different backfill into the seismic performance of base restrained RW has also been investigated. It was observed that the cohesionless backfill has a slight influence on the earthquake induced displacement of base restrained RW’s. Amplification of horizontal acceleration in backfill has been observed with no direct correlation with the applied earthquake excitation. The understanding and findings based on shaking table experiment and FE simulations have been used for development of an analytical model for estimation of earthquake induced displacement of base restrained RW. The validity of proposed analytical model has also been examined against the shaking table experiment and FE simulation results.

Stochastic model predictive approach for seismic lateral displacement of geosynthetic- reinforced soil slopes based on Newmark's sliding block analysis

“…The models perform well according to their e ciency. Tiwari and Lam [25] analyzed the displacement of retaining walls (RW) with base restraints during an earthquake. After shaking table experiments were performed on a reduced-scale RW model, an exhaustive nite element analysis (FE) was carried out.…”

Impact of Earthquake Action on the Design and Sizing of Jointed Masonry Structures in South Kivu, DRC

“…Similarly, theories may lead to superimposing the effects of static or gravity forces and inertia forces due to seismic loads in the design of composite masonry gravity walls. In order to ensure the stability of precast masonry gravity walls in this region, designers must also incorporate seismic effects into the analysis of the behavior of these structures [21] [22] [23] [24] [25].…”

Dynamic Numerical Simulations of Dry-Stone Retaining Walls: Identification of the Seismic Behaviour Factor

“…The most complete (but also complex) approach used to assess the seismic capacity of structures is the performance-based method. Originally introduced by Newmark [29], it is still in use nowadays [30,31]. It computes the displacement of a retaining wall during an earthquake motion.…”

“…It then compares the response (e.g., top displacement) with the maximum allowable displacement, from a structural point of view, to draw conclusions on the acceptability of the design. This method often requires several simulations with different seismic inputs on the same structure [30] to provide statistically significant results. Thus, a simplified (and more engineering-oriented) approach is also proposed by the Eurocode standards (EC8) for the seismic design of retaining walls [32], where the seismic assessment of DSRWs is conducted using a pseudo-static method.…”