Pseudo-dynamic analysis of three-dimensional active earth pressures in cohesive backfills with cracks

Abstract

Most of the existing studies on seismic active earth pressure evaluation use a pseudo-static method to consider seismic actions and are carried out under two-dimensional conditions. However, the pseudo-static approach characterizes the earthquake acceleration as a constant, which is a simplified mode and neglects some crucial seismic inputs. Additionally, the collapse of retained soil masses has a three-dimensional (3D) feature in practice. In this study, a framework that combines the kinematic approach of limit analysis and a pseudo-dynamic approach was established to predict 3D seismic active earth pressures in cohesive backfills with cracks. The resultant active earth pressure was obtained from the work-energy balance equation and was expressed by a dimensionless coefficient. The proposed approach was validated by comparison with an extant study. The results indicate that considering 3D effects and soil cohesion can trigger a distinct decrease in the active earth pressure, whereas the consideration of cracks and seismic effects has the opposite effect.