Academic literature on the topic 'Cantilever Earth-retaining Walls'

This paper provides results from carrying out two-dimensional dynamic finite element analyses to determine the applicability of simple pseudo-static analyses for assessing seismic earth forces acting on embedded cantilever and propped retaining walls appropriate for New Zealand. In particular, this study seeks to determine if the free-field Peak Ground Acceleration (PGAff) commonly used in these pseudo-static analyses can be optimized. The dynamic finite element analyses considered embedded cantilever and propped walls in shallow (Class C) and deep (Class D) soils (NZS 1170.5:2004). Three geographical zones in New Zealand were considered. A total of 946 finite element runs confirmed that optimized seismic coefficients based on fractions of PGAff can be used in pseudo-static analyses to provide moderately conservative estimates of seismic earth forces acting on retaining walls. Seismic earth forces were found to be sensitive to and dependent on wall displacements, geographical zones and soil classes. A reclassification of wall displacement ranges associated with different geographical zones, soil classes and each of the three pseudo-static methods of calculations (Rigid, Stiff and Flexible wall pseudo-static solutions) is presented. The use of different ensembles of acceleration-time histories appropriate for the different geographic zones resulted in significantly different calculated seismic earth forces, confirming the importance of using geographic-specific motions. The recommended location of the total dynamic active force (comprising both static and dynamic forces) for all cases is 0.7H from the top of the wall (where H is the retained soil height).

The proposed method for the analysis of cantilever retaining walls is based on ultimate limit states, but in contrast to other methods, which are recognized worldwide, also considers the condition of vertical force equilibrium, which includes the wall unit weight and the vertical component of the soil–structure interaction. The two-dimensional analytical model with polygonal soil pressure distribution is based on two new characteristics: the parameter α and the passive pressure coefficient at the embedment depth, Kb. The kinematic approach of limit analysis is used to examine the limit equilibrium state of the cantilever retaining wall according to soil properties and other loadings. The failure mechanism, composed of a classical determination of the passive pressure in the embedded part of the wall and a kinematically admissible velocity field at the retained side of the wall, estimates the limiting value of the passive earth pressure at the embedment depth. The advantage of the proposed method is that it enables the design of more slender cantilever retaining walls, at which the comparable level of safety for geotechnical and structural bearing capacity limit states is reached, which is the basic condition for safe design of retaining structures.

A numerical study was performed in order to investigate the effects of base excitation characteristics (peak acceleration amplitude and frequency of the excitation), soil strength and wall flexibility on the dynamic response of cantilever earth-retaining walls. In this study, Plaxis v8.2 dynamic finite element code was used. Previous 1-g shake table tests performed by Ç
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i (2003) were used to compare the experimental results with those obtained by finite element analysis. Comparison of experimental and numerical results indicated that the code was capable of predicting the dynamic lateral thrust values and bending moment profiles on the wall stems. In the light of these validation studies, a parametric study was carried on for a configuration that consists of an 8 meters high retaining wall supporting the same height of dry cohesionless backfill. Total and incremental dynamic thrust values, points of application and dimensionless bending moment values were presented together with the results obtained from commonly used pseudo static Mononobe-Okabe method and Steedman-Zeng approaches. According to the finite element analyses results, total dynamic active thrust act at approximately 0.30H above wall base. Base motion frequency becomes an important factor on magnitudes of dynamic active thrust when it approaches to the natural frequency of the system. Significantly high overturning moments were predicted at wall base in this case. It was observed that increasing wall rigidity causes an increase in forces acting on the wall stem during dynamic motion.

Dynamic behaviour of gravity and cantilever retaining walls is investigated by finite element method, incorporating the nonlinear elasto-plastic material properties of soil and seperation of the wall and backfill. Two dimensional finite element models are developed employing the finite element software ANSYS. The wall is modelled to rest on a soil layer allowing translational and rotational movements of the wall. Soil-wall systems are subjected to harmonic and real earthquake motions with different magnitude and frequency characteristics at the base. The maximum lateral force and its application point durinG dynamic loading are determined for each case. It is observed that the frequency content of the base motion has a significant influence on the dynamic lateral soil pressures and the lateral forces considerably increase as the base motion frequency approaches the fundamental frequency of the soil layer. The maximum lateral thrusts calculated by finite element analyses are generally found to be greater than those suggested by Mononobe-Okabe method and experimental findings. Nevertheless, the locations of the application point obtained by finite element method are found to be in good agreement with the results of experimental studies.

In this investigation, seismic response of retaining walls constructed with cohesive and cohesionless backfill materials was studied. Fully dynamic analysis based on finite difference method was used to evaluate the performance of retaining walls during the earthquake. The analysis response was verified by the experimental study conducted on a retaining wall system with cohesive backfill material in the literature. The effects of cohesion and free-field peak ground acceleration (PGA) on seismic earth thrust, the point of action of earth thrust, and maximum wall moment during the earthquake were compared with analytical and experimental solutions. The numerical results were compared with various analytical solutions. The motion characteristics of the retaining wall during the earthquake were also considered. The relative displacement of the walls with various backfill cohesions, under different ground motions, and free-field PGAs were investigated. Current analytical and empirical correlations developed based on Newmark sliding block method for estimating retaining wall movement during earthquakes were compared with the numerical approach. Consequently, fragility analyses were conducted to determine the probability of damage to the retaining walls. To evaluate the fragility of the studied models, specific failure criterion was chosen for retaining walls based on the suggested methods in practice. Using numerical approaches, the effects of soil-wall interaction and wall rigidity on the seismic response of retaining walls were also evaluated in earthquake conditions for both cohesive and cohesionless backfill materials. According to the findings, practical correlations were presented for conducting the seismic design of retaining walls.

Design of retaining structures depends upon the load which is transferred from backfill soil as well as external loads and also the resisting capacity of the structure. The traditional safety factor approach of the design of retaining structures does not address the variability of soils and loads. The properties of backfill soil are inherently variable and influence the design decisions considerably. A rational procedure for the design of retaining structures needs to explicitly consider variability, as they may cause significant changes in the performance and stability assessment. Reliability based design enables identification and separation of different variabilities in loading and resistance and recommends reliability indices to ensure the margin of safety based on probability theory. Detailed studies in this area are limited and the work presented in the dissertation on the Optimum design of retaining structures under static and seismic conditions: A reliability based approach is an attempt in this direction. This thesis contains ten chapters including Chapter 1 which provides a general introduction regarding the contents of the thesis and Chapter 2 presents a detailed review of literature regarding static and seismic design of retaining structures and highlights the importance of consideration of variability in the optimum design and leads to scope of the investigation. Targeted stability is formulated as optimization problem in the framework of target reliability based design optimization (TRBDO) and presented in Chapter 3. In Chapter 4, TRBDO approach for cantilever sheet pile walls and anchored cantilever sheet pile walls penetrating sandy and clayey soils is developed. Design penetration depth and section modulus for the various anchor pulls are obtained considering the failure criteria (rotational, sliding, and flexural failure modes) as well as variability in the back fill soil properties, soil-steel pile interface friction angle, depth of the water table, total depth of embedment, yield strength of steel, section modulus of sheet pile and anchor pull. The stability of reinforced concrete gravity, cantilever and L-shaped retaining walls in static conditions is examined in the context of reliability based design optimization and results are presented in Chapter 5 considering failure modes viz. overturning, sliding, eccentricity, bearing, shear and moment failures in the base slab and stem of wall. Optimum wall proportions are proposed for different coefficients of variation of friction angle of the backfill soil and cohesion of the foundation soil corresponding to different values of component as well as lower bounds of system reliability indices. Chapter 6 presents an approach to obtain seismic passive resistance behind gravity walls using composite curved rupture surface considering limit equilibrium method of analysis with the pseudo-dynamic approach. The study is extended to obtain the rotational and sliding displacements of gravity retaining walls under passive condition when subjected to sinusoidal nature of earthquake loading. Chapter 7 focuses on the reliability based design of gravity retaining wall when subjected to passive condition during earthquakes. Reliability analysis is performed for two modes of failure namely rotation of the wall about its heel and sliding of the wall on its base are considering variabilities associated with characteristics of earthquake ground motions, geometric proportions of wall, backfill soil and foundation soil properties. The studies reported in Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 present a method to evaluate reliability for external as well as internal stability of reinforced soil structures (RSS) using reliability based design optimization in the framework of pseudo static and pseudo dynamic methods respectively. The optimum length of reinforcement needed to maintain the stability against four modes of failure (sliding, overturning, eccentricity and bearing) by taking into account the variabilities associated with the properties of reinforced backfill, retained backfill, foundation soil, tensile strength and length of the geosynthetic reinforcement by targeting various component and system reliability indices is computed. Finally, Chapter 10 contains the important conclusions, along with scope for further work in the area. It is hoped that the methodology and conclusions presented in this study will be beneficial to the geotechnical engineering community in particular and society as a whole.