Fault Rupture and Kinematic Distress of Earth Filled Embankments

Abstract eng:
According to common practice the seismic design of any type of structure or infrastructure is focused on the inertial loading and the resulting distress generated due to the imposed ground shaking. Regarding the effects of fault rupture on seismic design, seismic norms contain mainly provisions that are related to the citation of the structures/geostructures. Moreover, the additional distress imposed to large-scale structures (like bridges, lifelines, dams, or earth-filled embankments) by the applied permanent deformations produced during a potential fault rupture may not be possible to be avoided. As in many cases the exact location of faults is not known, especially when surface scarps are not present, the consequences of the permanent deformations in large-scale structures should be carefully and realistically evaluated. The current study examines numerically the behavior of earth-filled embankments, focusing on their kinematic distress due to fault rupture propagation. Apart from a brief literature review of the problem, a parametric study is conducted in order to investigate the role of the main parameters involved. The results indicate that the effects of fault rupturing in earth-filled embankments should be treated with caution. Additionally, the resulting kinematic distress should not be disregarded in the stability assessment, and therefore, it should be taken into account in the overall seismic design of the embankments.

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