Influence of Backfill Cohesion on Seismic Displacement of Gravity Retaining Wall

Abstract eng:
Backfill cohesion can significantly reduce active seismic earth pressure. The influence of this factor on earthquake-induced displacement of walls was discussed. Based on the Raffnsson, Wu and Prakash’s framework and the theory on seismic earth pressure of cohesive backfill, a model was established to compute the cumulative displacement. A coupling movement mode of sliding and rocking of a wall was considered, and the dynamic nonlinearity of foundation soil and the cohesion of backfill were simulated. Permanent displacements of a sample wall were computed, considering 16 combined conditions of backfill cohesion and friction angle. The results show that the permanent displacement tends to decrease with the cohesion increasing. However, the decreasing range is negligibly small comparing with the decrease of active earth pressure. It is suggested that the effect of backfill cohesion on the permanent displacement should not be considered in the displacement-based seismic design of gravity retaining structures.

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