A Modified Procedure to Evaluate Active Earth Pressure at High Seismic Loads

Abstract

ABSTRACT A modified and pseudo-static limit-equilibrium approach to evaluate active earth pressure at high seismic load levels is proposed. Although it is similar to the Mononobe-Okabe method, the proposed method considers the effects of strain localization in the backfill soil and associated post-peak reduction in the shear resistance from peak to residual values along a previously formed failure plane. The proposed method can reflect differences in the peak shear resistance of the backfill soil with different degrees of compaction; yields a realistic active earth pressure coefficient which is smaller than that predicted by the Mononobe-Okabe method using a residual shear resistance; can be adapted to analyses with a large horizontal seismic coefficient where the Mononobe-Okabe method using the residual shear resistance is not applicable; and renders a reduced and more realistic size of active failure zone in the backfill soil at high seismic load levels compared to that predicted by the Mononobe-Okabe method.