Upper bound solution to seismic active earth pressure of submerged backfill subjected to partial drainage

In waterfront geotechnical engineering, seismic and drainage conditions must be considered in the design of retaining structures. This paper proposes a general analytical method to evaluate the seismic active earth pressure on a retaining wall with backfill subjected to partial steady seepage flow u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers of Structural and Civil Engineering 2021-12, Vol.15 (6), p.1480-1493
Main Authors: Zeng, Zhengqiang, Wu, Shengzhi, Lyu, Cheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Backfill
Cities
Civil Engineering
Countries
Deduction
Drainage
Earth pressure
Earthquakes
Engineering
Fourier series
Geotechnical engineering
Pressure
Pressure distribution
Regions
Research Article
Retaining walls
Seepage
Seismic activity
Seismic design
Series expansion
Structural engineering
Upper bounds
Waterfronts
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Summary:In waterfront geotechnical engineering, seismic and drainage conditions must be considered in the design of retaining structures. This paper proposes a general analytical method to evaluate the seismic active earth pressure on a retaining wall with backfill subjected to partial steady seepage flow under seismic conditions. The method comprises the following steps: i) determination of the total head, ii) upper bound solution of seismic active earth thrust, and iii) deduction for the earth pressure distribution. The determination of total head h ( x,z ) relies on the Fourier series expansions, and the expressions of the seismic active earth thrust and pressure are derived by using the upper bound theorem. Parametric studies reveal that insufficient drainage and earthquakes are crucial factors that cause unfavorable earth pressure. The numerical results confirm the validity of the total head distribution. Comparisons indicate that the proposed method is consistent with other relevant existing methods in terms of predicting seismic active earth pressure. The method can be applied to the seismic design of waterfront retaining walls.
ISSN:2095-2430
2095-2449
DOI:10.1007/s11709-021-0776-y