Special Issue Article Open Access

Effect of Backfill on Wrap Faced Reinforced Soil Wall Subjected to Seismic Excitation

Abstract

Reinforced soil walls offer excellent solution to many problems associated with earth retaining structures especially under seismic conditions. This paper present the seismic response of wrap faced reinforced soil retaining walls through numerical models. Numerical models of the wrap faced reinforced soil walls are simulated using FLAC3D. Backfill soil is modeled as elasto-plastic Mohr Coulomb material model coded with stress dependent hyperbolic soil modulus model under static loading and non-linear hysteretic constitutive model that follows the Massing rule, under cyclic loading. The reinforcement is modeled as geogrid shell structural element. Various interfaces are also considered for proper interaction between dissimilar elements. The effects of backfill friction angle and dilation angle on the failure modes are being studied. It is observed that the deformation of wrap faced wall subjected to dynamic excitation consist of three different modes of failure: shear deformation within reinforced zone, relative compaction near end of reinforcement and compound failure surface extending to backfill zone.

Arup Bhattacharjee, A.M.Krishna

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