Lateral Earth Pressure Distribution and Shear Band Development within Back-to-Back Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls Under Seismic Conditions
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 23, Issue 1
Abstract
This study attempts to evaluate the effects of two important structural design parameters on the dynamic behavior of back-to-back mechanically stabilized earth walls (BBMSEWs). For this purpose, a series of shake table tests were carried out on seven BBMSEW models with different overlap lengths of reinforcements (LR) and arrangements of connecting two opposing walls to each other. Based on the results of the particle image velocimetry (PIV), a combination of a concave surface and an inclined plane was observed as the failure surface in models and it was concluded that the complete connection of two opposing walls to each other could prevent the formation of a failure wedge in BBMSEWs. Findings indicated that although separating two opposing walls from each other and reducing the overlap LR increase lateral deformations, these could be two effective solutions for reducing the lateral earth pressure in BBMSEWs. On the other hand, comparisons have showed that Seed-Whitman and Mononobe-Okabe methods are conservative for calculating dynamic lateral pressures (σAE) in BBMSEWs at HPGA < 0.6g (where HPGA is horizontal peak ground acceleration) and that this conservatism fades gradually by increasing HPGA, and finally at HPGA ≥ 0.9g, the obtained values of σAE becomes almost greater than those predicted by these methods.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank of M. A. Salimi for providing valuable assistance and gratefully appreciate the support of the Centrifuge and Physical Modeling Center at Tehran University.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- b
- width of intersection point of failure surface;
- Cc
- coefficient of curvature;
- Cu
- coefficient of uniformity;
- D
- distance of two opposing reinforced masses;
- D50
- medium grain size;
- Dmax
- maximum wall deflection;
- Dn
- normalized seismic displacement;
- Dr
- relative density;
- E
- tensile stiffness of reinforcement;
- f
- frequency;
- ff
- fundamental frequency;
- g
- acceleration due to gravity;
- H
- total wall height;
- h1
- height of starting point of reverse curve;
- h2
- height of intersection point of failure surface;
- HPGA
- horizontal peak ground acceleration;
- KA
- active pressure coefficient;
- KAE
- total (i.e., dynamic and static) pressure coefficient;
- kh
- horizontal pseudostatic coefficient;
- kv
- vertical pseudostatic coefficient;
- L
- reinforcement length;
- LR
- overlap lengths of reinforcements;
- M
- flexural resistance per unit width;
- N
- scale factor between prototype and physical model;
- PA
- resultant force of active earth pressure;
- PAE
- resultant force of seismic earth pressure;
- R
- location of the resultant lateral force;
- PR
- pullout resistance;
- SH
- horizontal spacing between reinforcement;
- SV
- vertical spacing between reinforcement;
- Vmax
- maximum velocity of input ground motion;
- α
- horizontal angle of flat failure surface;
- β
- backfill slope angle;
- γ
- unit weight of backfill;
- ΔKAE
- incremental dynamic pressure coefficient;
- ΔTmax,i
- incremental maximum force along ith reinforcement;
- Δx
- lateral displacement of facing;
- ΔσAE
- incremental dynamic earth pressure;
- δ
- friction angle at soil–wall interface;
- ɛs
- cumulative shear strain;
- θ
- wall slope angle from the vertical;
- λ
- governing parameter the similitude rules;
- σAE
- total (i.e., dynamic and static) earth pressure;
- φ
- internal friction angle of backfill;
- φr
- internal friction angle of reinforced mass; and
- ψ
- dilation angle.
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Information
Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 23 • Issue 1 • January 2023
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 10, 2019
Accepted: Jun 12, 2020
Published online: Nov 4, 2022
Published in print: Jan 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Apr 4, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Analysis (by type)
- Continuum mechanics
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Earthquake engineering
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Failure analysis
- Forensic engineering
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Lateral pressure
- Pressure (type)
- Retaining structures
- Seismic design
- Soil dynamics
- Soil mechanics
- Soil pressure
- Solid mechanics
- Structural behavior
- Structural engineering
- Structural failures
- Structural members
- Structural systems
- Walls
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