A Study on the Influence of Boundary Conditions on Three Dimensional Dynamic Responses of Embankments

Abstract eng:
Seismic damages to embankments have sometimes been found to take place at locally-limited spots even though the foundation conditions are almost the same along their axes. The reason why local failures were caused is considered to their three-dimensional response during an earthquake. According to the shaking table tests on the three-dimensional response of embankments, the response at the crest was amplified locally even though the embankment base was shaken uniformly. The intervals of local failures at the crest depend on the frequency of input motion, the stiffness and the height of embankments. This paper aims to clarify the influence of the boundary conditions on the seismic responses of embankments during earthquakes. A series of shaking table tests with model embankments were conducted under different boundary conditions. A series of numerical analyses were also conducted to examine the influence of boundary conditions of embankments. The results of numerical analyses were good agreements with the shaking table tests. The test results showed that the response of a model embankment which ends were fixed is larger than that of free ends. Also, it was observed that the magnitude of response of former is about 1.2 times larger than the latter. When t the shear wave velocity of the boundary area was 1.5 times lager than the models embankment, the maximum response was almost the same as the one under the fixed boundary condition.

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