STABILITY AGAINST SLIDING ANALYSIS OF A RETAINING WALL UNDER SEISMIC LOADING CONDITION

Aiming at the shortages of seismic design theory for retaining wall, a formula is derived for the computation of the safety factor against sliding by using pseudo-dynamic approach. The time and phase difference due to finite shearing forces and primary wave velocity are considered. The effects of wall inclination, wall friction angle, soil friction angle, and horizontal and vertical seismic coefficients on the safety factor of stability against sliding have been explored in the study. The parametric study shows that the stability against sliding increases with the increase of the values of wall inclination, wall friction angle and soil friction angle; while it decreases with the increase of the values of horizontal seismic coefficients. The calculation results of the safety factor against sliding obtained from present analyses are lower than those obtained from Mononobe-Okabe theory.