Seismic passive earth resistance using modified pseudo-dynamic method

In earthquake prone areas,understanding of the seismic passive earth resistance is very important for the design of different geotechnical earth retaining structures.In this study,the limit equilibrium method is used for estimation of critical seismic passive earth resistance for an inclined wall supporting horizontal cohesionless backfill.A composite failure surface is considered in the present analysis.Seismic forces are computed assuming the backfill soil as a viscoelastic material overlying a rigid stratum and the rigid stratum is subjected to a harmonic shaking.The present method satisfies the boundary conditions.The amplification of acceleration depends on the properties of the backfill soil and on the characteristics of the input motion.The acceleration distribution along the depth of the backfill is found to be nonlinear in nature.The present study shows that the horizontal and vertical acceleration distribution in the backfill soil is not always in-phase for the critical value of the seismic passive earth pressure coefficient.The effect of different parameters on the seismic passive earth pressure is studied in detail.A comparison of the present method with other theories is also presented,which shows the merits of the present study.