Active and passive soil wedges influence on the natural frequency of retaining structures

Abstract

Studying the behavior of retaining structures has been very important issue due to their large application in civil engineering. An accurate determination of the earth pressure and the natural frequency is elemental for studying the dynamic behavior of these structures. In the most previous investigations, the soil backfill was considered sufficient width as rectangular mass whereas in the real. the backfill behind retaining structures repartitioned as triangular active and passive soil wedges. Rectifying this weakness, this study proposed an analytical model for calculating the natural frequency of retaining structures by considering the triangular active and passive soil failure wedges, which take into account the variation of earth pressure behind retaining structures. The soil wedge causes an increase in the value of natural frequency. It is clarified that the soil wedge has a large influence on the natural frequency of retaining structures. In this regard, the consideration of active and passive soil wedges behind retaining structures plays an important influence in determining of the natural frequency.