Lateral Performance of Full-Scale Bridge Abutment Wall with Granular Backfill
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 4
Abstract
Bridge abutments typically contain a backwall element that is designed to break free of its base support when struck by a bridge deck during an earthquake event and push into the abutment backfill soils. Results are presented for a full-scale cyclic lateral load test of an abutment backwall configured to represent the dimensions ( height), boundary conditions, and backfill materials (compacted silty sand) that are typical of California bridge design practice. An innovative loading system was utilized that operates under displacement control and that assures horizontal wall displacement with minimal vertical displacement. The applied horizontal displacement ranged from null to approximately 11% of the wall height . The maximum earth pressure occurred at a wall displacement of and corresponded to a passive earth pressure coefficient of . The measured force distribution applied to the wall from hydraulic actuators allowed the soil pressure distribution to be inferred as triangular in shape and the mobilized wall-soil interface friction to be evaluated as approximately one-third to one-half of the soil friction angle. Post-test trenching of the backfill showed a log-spiral principal failure surface at depth with several relatively minor shear surfaces further up in the passive wedge. The ultimate passive resistance is well estimated by the log-spiral method and a method of slices approach. The shape of the load-deflection relationship is well estimated by models that produce a hyperbolic curve shape.
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Acknowledgments
Support for this research was provided by the California Department of Transportation under Research Contract No. UNSPECIFIED59A0247 (and amendments thereto), which is gratefully acknowledged. The writers would like to acknowledge the valuable assistance and technical support of Caltrans staff in this project, particularly Craig Whitten. George Cooke of GB Cooke Inc. is recognized for his assistance in specimen construction and contract administration. Partial support for the testing phase of this project was also provided through the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) Program of the National Science Foundation under Award No. CMMI-0402490. The writers gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the NEES@UCLA Equipmebt site, and particularly thank Steve Keowen, Alberto Salamanca and Steve Kang for their important contributions associated with the timely and effective completion of the testing.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 135 • Issue 4 • April 2009
Pages: 506 - 514
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 6, 2007
Accepted: Jun 17, 2008
Published online: Apr 1, 2009
Published in print: Apr 2009
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