Local failures of embankments during earthquakes

Abstract

Seismic damage to embankments has sometimes been found to take place at locally-limited spots even though the foundation conditions are almost the same along their axes. A few studies related to this kind of local failure have been conducted, however the reason why local failures of embankments take place is not known. This paper aims to study the influence of the three-dimensional response of embankments on their local failures. A series of shaking table tests were conducted. Test results revealed that local failures occurred despite the fact that the model base was shaken uni-formly. It was also found that the interval of local failures depends on the frequency of input motion and the stiffness of the embankments. Thus, an equation to calculate the intervals of local failures was derived, and this was found to agree well with the seismic damage to the Kushiro River Dike.