Seismic active earth pressure on walls using a new pseudo-dynamic approach.

Seismic active soil thrust, soil pressure distribution and overturning moment are obtained in closed form using a new pseudo-dynamic approach based on standing shear and primary waves propagating on a visco-elastic backfill overlying rigid bedrock subjected to both harmonic horizontal and vertical acceleration. Seismic waves respect the zero stress boundary condition at the soil surface, backfill is modeled as a Kelvin-Voigt medium and a planar failure surface is assumed in the analysis. Effects of a wide range of parameters such as amplitude of base accelerations, soil shear resistance angle, soil wall friction angle, damping ratio are discussed. Results of the parametric study indicate that amplitude of the horizontal base acceleration and soil shear resistance angle are the factors most influencing active pressure distribution whereas the presence of the vertical acceleration always results in a quite small increase in seismic active thrust. Damping ratio is important mainly close to the fundamental frequency of shear wave where seismic active thrust is maximum. Unlike the original pseudo-dynamic approach the effect of a different frequency for S-wave and P-wave is considered in the analysis. Seismic active thrust is found to increase when the frequency of P-wave is greater than that of S-wave. The results obtained are found to be in agreement with previous studies, provided that the seismic input is adapted to include amplification effects.