SEISMIC BEHAVIOUR OF CANTILEVER RETAINING WALLS ON SLOPES WITH DIFFERENT INCLINATIONS IN DYNAMIC CENTRIFUGE MODEL TESTS

A series of dynamic centrifuge model tests was conducted to investigate seismic behaviour of full-scale cantilever retaining walls on subsoils with the inclination ranging from 0 to about 30 degrees. The comparisons between behaviour observed in the tests and the results from the conventional stability analyses were also made to confirm the validity of the current design codes. This paper showed that: (1) the retaining wall on slopes with inclinations larger than about 20 degrees was rather unstable at the time of earthquakes while those smaller than about 10 degrees may not have largely affected earthquake-induced damage; (2) with an increase in the subsoil inclination, the main cause of damage to the retaining wall changed from the lateral sliding to the overturning associated with a lack of the bearing capacity and/or the global failure associated with shear bands developed in the backfill and subsoil; (3) since the results from the conventional stability analyses were relatively consistent with behaviour observed in the model tests, the framework based on a pseudo-static and limit-equilibrium approach in the current design code may be generally reasonable for retaining walls constructed on slopes as well.