Seismic behavior of temporary retaining wall structures

Temporary retaining walls used for constructing open-cut tunnels, foundation structures, and more are very important for excavation work. Details of these structure vary according to construction cost, purpose, and site conditions. The period in which this structure is used is often not as long as the term "temporary" suggests. Nowadays, however, the number of structures used for a relatively long time has been increasing as the number of large and/or complex work projects have increased. In Japan, the designs of such structures generally do not take earthquake forces into consideration. For the aforementioned reasons, we have begun considering the need for seismic designs in temporary retaining walls. In this paper, we use the finite element analysis method to investigate the behaviors of strut-type temporary earth-retaining walls during earthquakes. A basic analysis model was constructed based on the measurement data at the time of construction, and we then used this analysis model to analyze the behavior of retaining walls during earthquakes. Based on the analysis results, we evaluated the behaviors of the temporary earth retaining walls during earthquakes.