A Study on the Seismic Passive Earth Pressure on Rigid Retaining Walls Considering Seismic Acceleration Field

Abstract

ABSTRACT The seismic passive earth pressure is typically calculated by a pseudo static analysis by the PGA on the ground surface which is often assumed to be constant within the soil mass. This may result in an underestimation of the limit load. On the other hand, variations of the acceleration field over time and space render the interpretation of the seismic limit load either very difficult, if a complete elasto-plastic solution is sought at each time step, or argumentative. A rather new procedure is presented in this study which considers the variable seismic acceleration field behind a rigid retaining wall during an earthquake and applied to a series of acceleration time histories. The method of stress characteristics is implemented to estimate the limit load at each time step. This method seems to be more convenient with a clear interpretation of the actual limit load. Results indicated that the conventional pseudo static analyses provide an over-conservative estimate or an underestimation of the passive earth pressure.