Upper-bound limit analysis on seismic rotational stability of waterfront retaining walls

Abstract

The seismic rotational stability analysis of waterfront retaining walls can be found in the existing literature, which adopted the limit equilibrium theory and was based on the moment balance of the external force on the wall. However, the application location of the seismic earth pressure still lacks a recognized solution. This paper presented a new methodology for the rotational stability analysis of the waterfront retaining wall under earthquake conditions based on the multi-block upper bound approach. The seismic loads are determined by the pseudo-static method. The wall and soil wedge (not containing water within) are treated as a whole system and build an energy balance equation of this system, then an analytical expression for the seismic yield acceleration coefficient is deduced. Results showed that the water level on the downstream side exceeds 30% of the wall height, the seismic rotational stability of the waterfront retaining wall would decrease significantly. The seismic yield acceleration coefficient is decreasing by about 40% when the water level on the downstream side is increased from 3 m to 4 m. The results from the proposed method compared with those from Choudhury and Ahmad (2007) are slightly different but more reasonable.