Stability of earth retention system in dry cohesionless soil under static and seismic condition

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to assess the stability of earth retention systems like supported excavation known as braced excavation (consisting of retaining wall and support members known as struts) under both static and seismic condition. A numerical analysis has been done considering the excavation in dry cohesionless soil with properties such as density, friction angle, dilatancy angle and Poisson's ratio as 2040 kg/m3, 35°, 0° and 0.3 respectively. The shear modulus of the soil depends on the mean effective stress below ground level. The bulk modulus also behaves similarly as shear modulus. The wall and the struts are modeled as beam elements. The soil structure interaction is modeled by introducing interface elements between wall and soil. It is concluded from the present study that there is a substantial increment in the values of maximum strut force, wall moment, wall deflection and the ground surface settlement under seismic condition as compared to static condition.