Doctoral Dissertations

Yingwei Wu

Abstract

"This research focused on the analysis and design of rigid retaining walls subjected to earthquakes and considered nonlinear foundation soil properties. The simultaneous sliding and rocking movements of retaining walls were considered. Seven field conditions, including moist, submerged, perched and saturated backfill with a sloping drain, were specified by design codes. A computer program capable of computing displacement using real time history records or equivalent sinusoidal motions was developed. Finally, a dynamic design procedure was proposed for practicing engineers.

The study revealed that maximum shear modulus in foundation soil, maximum ground acceleration, and soil nonlinearity had significant effect on the displacement of retaining walls. Also, the rocking displacement was observed to be an important component of the total displacement. The incline angle at the back of a wall prevented the wall from completely overturning without altering the total displacements. The unit weight of wall material and the friction angle of the backfill had negligible effect on the computed displacements. Submerged and perched conditions had considerable effect on the computed displacements due to induced hydrodynamic forces. Examples of displacement-based design were performed. A comparison of computed displacements agreed well with the observed ones for a wall test in a centrifuge.

The results revealed that the leaning type of retaining wall reduced the base width for the displacement-based design"--Abstract, page iii.

Advisor(s)

Prakash, Shamsher

Committee Member(s)

Petry, Thomas M.
Lentz, Rodney
Chen, Genda
Koval, Leslie Robert

Department(s)

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Degree Name

Ph. D. in Civil Engineering

Publisher

University of Missouri--Rolla

Publication Date

Spring 1999

Pagination

xxv, 223 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 212-222).

Rights

© 1999 Yingwei Wu, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 7606

Print OCLC #

43074255

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