Finite Element Modeling of the Behavior of Reinforced Vertical Cohesive Slopes under Earthquake Loading in Transportation

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Imam<SPAN lang=en-us> </SPAN>Khomeini University, Qazvin, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Amir Kabi<SPAN lang=en-us> </SPAN>University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

3 MSc., Department of Civil Engineering, Azad Islamic<SPAN lang=en-us> </SPAN>University-Arak Branch, Arak, Iran

Abstract

This paper describes a FE simulation of the behavior of mechanically stabilized cohesive earth walls under seismic loads and the effects of reinforcements in reduction of deformations under earthquake loads were studied. In this manner, different heights and different systems of reinforcement were considered.First of all, the maximum height of cohesive vertical slope was estimated without any reinforcement. In other words, five different types of cohesive soils were considered and their maximum stable heights were calculated. Then a geotextile reinforcement system was designed for each wall with the recommended method in the research. Also, to be reassured about the better design of the reinforced walls under seismic loads (considering that the used method for design was merely regarded static loads) the walls were modeled and their stress-strain behaviors were obtained under Saint Jose earthquake loading. After some try and error steps, and finding the safety factors in each step, the optimized design was gained. After that, to evaluate the effects of reinforcements in reduction of deformation in retaining systems some comparisons were made between the reinforced and non-reinforced walls with different heights (6m, 8m, 10m, 12m and 14m) The results of stress-strain analysis were tabulated and related curves were presented . The results clearly show that the reinforcement systems force a full control on displacement specially at the top and the middle of the walls which are the critical zones in retaining walls behavior under seismic loads. Finally it was shown using reinforced system in vertical cohesive slopes with common height, under seismic loads, can reduce the X components of deformations more than 90%.

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