Experimental developments for studying static and seismic behavior of retaining walls with liquefiable backfills

Abstract

The effects of earthquakes on cantilever retaining walls with liquefiable backfills were studied. The experimental techniques utilized in this study are discussed here. A series of centrifuge tests was conducted on aluminum, fixed-base, cantilever wall models retaining saturated, cohesionless backfills. Accelerations on the walls and in the backfill, static and excess pore pressures in the soil, and deflections and bending strains in the wall were measured. In addition, direct measurements of static and dynamic lateral earth pressures were made. In some tests, sand backfills were saturated with the substitute pore fluid metolose. Modeling of model type experiments were conducted. The experimental measurements were found internally consistent and repeatable. Both static and dynamic earth pressure measurements were determined to be reliable. It was also observed that for the test configuration adopted, a special boundary treatment such as the use of duxseal is optional. Static and seismic modeling of models were also successful, which indicated that the assumed scaling relations were essentially correct.