Influences of Wall Configurations on Earthquake Behavior of Cantilever Retaining Walls Considering Soil-Structure Interaction Effects

Abstract

Cantilever walls are frequently and necessarily built not only in earthquake prone regions but also on different foundation subsoils with various physical and mechanical characteristics. The response of these structures is a complicated soil-structure interaction (SSI) problem, in which the relative stiffness between the soil and structure is of critical importance. In addition to different soil conditions and earthquake motions, the wall configurations have an important role in the cantilever retaining wall design. Thus, the major objective of this work is to investigate the effects of various configurations on seismic response of the cantilever retaining walls considering SSI. Accordingly, the seismic response of the interaction systems is revealed using the 3D finite element models (FEM) in time domain, assuming linearly elastic behavior for the wall, and elastoplastic behavior for backfill and foundation soil. Viscous absorbent boundaries are employed to both simulate radiation scenario and avoid undesirable wave reflections generated by soil lateral boundaries. Backfill-wall interfaces are modeled using the unidirectional interface elements with nonlinear force-deflection abilities. The interaction systems are analyzed considering three different cantilever wall configurations (inverted T-type, L-type, and the wall with a base key), four different ground motion records, and four different subsoil systems. Nonlinear seismic analyses are carried out to visit how considering the variation of these parameters influences the wall behavior. The results from parametric studies show that the wall configuration, SSI effects and ground motions are remarkably influential on seismic responses of the cantilever walls such as the stresses and horizontal displacements.

Seismic Response and Damage Analysis of Large Underground Frame Structures without Overburden

“…In the elastic analysis of the model, the amplitude of seismic acceleration on the bedrock surface is adjusted to 0.2 g. When the structure is subjected to elastic-dynamic analysis, the seismic propagation directions are all upward along the Z-axis and the vibration direction is the X-direction. In this case, the earthquake record is selected according to China's Code for Seismic Design of Urban Railway Structures (GB 50909-2014), and nine natural earthquake records are selected for elastic time-range calculations [29][30][31][32][33], which comprise three low-frequency earthquake records (L-1~3), three medium-frequency earthquake records (I-1~3), and three high-frequency earthquake records (H-1~3) [34][35][36]; the information of the earthquake records is shown in Table 4. The time-range curves and Fourier spectra are shown in Figure 4.…”

Study on stress and deformation characteristics of existing-new two-stage cantilever retaining wall

“…Kasif [26] used the 3D FEM in time domain to investigate the effects of various configurations on seismic response of the cantilever retaining walls considering soil-structure interaction. Kasif [27] adopt the FEM to study the effects of different ground motions, backfill-structure interaction and soil-structure interaction on dynamic response of a box culvert wing wall. To determine seismic permanent displacement of a new type of assembled multi-step cantilever retaining walls, He [28] adopt the upper bound limit analysis and pseudo-static method to derive calculation formulas of seismic horizontal permanent displacement at the top of each step of the wall including two, three, and four steps.…”