Investigation of dynamic behavior of geosynthetic reinforced soil retaining structures under earthquake loads

The results of an experimental study conducted on two 1:2 reduced-scale geotextile-reinforced soil retaining walls are presented and discussed. El Centro earthquake and sinusoidal harmonic motion excitations were applied to the 1.9 m tall models. The design parameter investigated was the reinforcement length (L/H = 0.9 in the 1st model and L/H = 0.6 in the 2nd model). The results were analyzed to evaluate the acceleration amplification, strains in the reinforcement layers and facing wall deformation. The test results showed that in both experiments the walls were in fact designed to behave rigidly and almost no residual displacements were observed on the front of the wall. The most important conclusion drawn from the experimental work was that Geosynthetic Reinforced Retaining Structures designed according to the current specifications behave very successfully under earthquake loading conditions.