Calculation of Seismic Lateral Earth Pressure on Hunchbacked Gravity Quay Walls

Ebrahimian, Babak; Zarnousheh Farahani, Amir Reza

doi:10.22065/jsce.2025.482001.3538

Calculation of Seismic Lateral Earth Pressure on Hunchbacked Gravity Quay Walls

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Babak Ebrahimian ¹

Amir Reza Zarnousheh Farahani ²

¹ َAssistant Professor, Department of Geotechnical and Transportation Engineering, Faculty of Civil, Water and Environmental Engineering,, Shahid Beheshti University (SBU),, Tehran, Iran

² Graduate M.Sc. Student, Department of Geotechnical and Transportation Engineering, Faculty of Civil, Water and Environmental Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University (SBU), Tehran, Iran

10.22065/jsce.2025.482001.3538

Abstract

Seismic lateral earth pressure is one of the key factors affecting the behavior and performance of retaining walls and is the basis for seismic analysis of such structures in many relevant codes and design guidelines. Hunchbacked gravity quay walls are a special type of retaining wall, whose unique geometry results in a different distribution pattern of lateral pressure from the soil behind the wall. In the present study, seismic lateral earth pressure on hunchbacked gravity quay walls is estimated using various methods, including nonlinear effective stress dynamic analysis and Mononobe-Okabe pseudo-static analysis, and the results are compared with corresponding experimental outcomes from shake table tests. For this purpose, an explicit finite difference numerical model is developed for nonlinear dynamic analyses, and a spreadsheet program is designed for pseudo-static analyses. Seismic lateral earth pressure is calculated for nine cases of hunchbacked gravity quay walls with varying geometries, foundation conditions, and seismic loads, at three stages: before seismic loading, at the moment of maximum lateral soil force on the wall, and after seismic loading. These results are then compared with corresponding values from shake table tests. The findings reveal that, at the moment of seismic loading when the resultant lateral soil force on the wall reaches its peak magnitude, the accuracy and quality of the lateral pressure distribution predictions obtained from nonlinear effective stress dynamic modeling are significantly higher than those of the Mononobe-Okabe pseudo-static method. However, for post-seismic loading conditions, the Mononobe-Okabe method provides more accurate and reliable predictions. Additionally, applying the suggested correction factors to the results of the Mononobe-Okabe method improves its accuracy in estimating lateral forces at the moment of peak lateral soil force by an average of 3.3 to 6.7 times.

Keywords

Gravity quay wall

Hunchbacked geometry

Seismic lateral earth pressure

Non-linear dynamic analysis

Pseudo-static analysis

Mononobe-Okabe method

Subjects

Geotechnical Engineering

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