Analysis of reinforced soil wall for c–ϕ backfill considering Rayleigh wave

Abstract

Analytical methods to analyse the seismic stability of reinforced soil walls showing the effect of Rayleigh waves are not available to date. In this study, the pseudo-dynamic approach was used to determine the seismic behaviour of a reinforced soil wall considering the propagation of primary, shear and Rayleigh waves. A mathematical derivation is proposed to obtain the required strength of reinforcements, the critical angle of the failure wedge and the factor of safety (FS) of the reinforced soil wall. The non-linear distribution of tensile force in the reinforcements can easily be obtained for the case of c–ϕ backfill using the results from the present parametric study. A sizable effect of horizontal ground acceleration and soil amplification factor on the required strength of reinforcements, critical angle of failure wedge and FS was observed. The trends found for Kmax and FS clearly emphasise the prominence of Rayleigh wave consideration in the analysis.