Seismic behaviour of anchored steel sheet pile walls in sand
type: CreativeWork
description: Anchored Steel Sheet Pile (ASSP) walls are frequently adopted as retaining structures in port facilities. Many coastal areas in the world are highly seismic regions, meaning that ASSP walls are likely to experience earthquakes during their lifespan. ASSP retaining walls are frequently designed for seismic actions using pseudo-static methods. Their displacements can be estimated using a Newmark's sliding block approach. A deeper understanding of the seismic behaviour of these structures is required to identify the main parameters affecting their maximum internal forces and displacements. In this research project, the seismic behaviour of ASSP walls in dry and saturated sand was investigated. A series of dynamic centrifuge tests showed that, in dry conditions, the maximum internal forces were driven by the peak horizontal acceleration of the earthquake in the backfill. The systems accumulated the majority of the permanent displacements during the very initial cycles of shaking, whereas much less displacement occurred during later cycles, showing an overall increase of their seismic capacity. In saturated conditions, excess pore water pressures drove the maximum internal forces and were responsible for a significant deamplification and phase lag in the horizontal accelerations, as these travelled through the soil deposit. The accumulation of permanent displacements in the systems was gradual and uniform over the duration of the earthquakes. In this case, the tendency of ASSP walls to increase their seismic capacity during earthquake shaking was inhibited by the generation of excess pore water pressures. The causes of the progressive increase of the overall capacity of ASSP walls subjected to seismic shaking were identified as: (i) densification of the sand, (ii) rotation of the walls, (iii) reduction of the retained height, and (iv) the progressive mobilization of the passive resistance of the soil. In saturated conditions, these were counterbalanced by the generation …
abstract: Anchored Steel Sheet Pile (ASSP) walls are frequently adopted as retaining structures in port facilities. Many coastal areas in the world are highly seismic regions, meaning that ASSP walls are likely to experience earthquakes during their lifespan. ASSP retaining walls are frequently designed for seismic actions using pseudo-static methods. Their displacements can be estimated using a Newmark's sliding block approach. A deeper understanding of the seismic behaviour of these structures is required to identify the main parameters affecting their maximum internal forces and displacements. In this research project, the seismic behaviour of ASSP walls in dry and saturated sand was investigated. A series of dynamic centrifuge tests showed that, in dry conditions, the maximum internal forces were driven by the peak horizontal acceleration of the earthquake in the backfill. The systems accumulated the majority of the permanent displacements during the very initial cycles of shaking, whereas much less displacement occurred during later cycles, showing an overall increase of their seismic capacity. In saturated conditions, excess pore water pressures drove the maximum internal forces and were responsible for a significant deamplification and phase lag in the horizontal accelerations, as these travelled through the soil deposit. The accumulation of permanent displacements in the systems was gradual and uniform over the duration of the earthquakes. In this case, the tendency of ASSP walls to increase their seismic capacity during earthquake shaking was inhibited by the generation of excess pore water pressures. The causes of the progressive increase of the overall capacity of ASSP walls subjected to seismic shaking were identified as: (i) densification of the sand, (ii) rotation of the walls, (iii) reduction of the retained height, and (iv) the progressive mobilization of the passive resistance of the soil. In saturated conditions, these were counterbalanced by the generation …
author: Fusco, Alessandro
language: eng
keywords: Anchor, Displacement, Earthquake, Liquefaction, Newmark's method, Retaining walls, Sand
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2022-08-15
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:30Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.90059