Seismic Stability of Reinforced Soil Wall: A Modified Pseudo-Dynamic Approach

This study examines the seismic stability of reinforced soil walls with c′ – 𝜙′ backfill using the modified pseudo-dynamic method. A limit equilibrium approach with a planar failure surface is used to estimate the required tensile strength of reinforcement and the critical failure angle under seismic loading. The Kelvin-Voigt model is used to represent the viscoelastic behaviour of the backfill, while a MATLAB code is employed for efficient numerical computation and optimization. Key parameters studied include normalized seismic frequency, damping ratio, shear strength, and base acceleration amplitude. Results show that an increase in normalized frequency raises both the required tensile force and horizontal inertia forces, while improved shear strength reduces reinforcement demand. The inclination of the failure surface also increases with frequency, indicating a larger failure wedge. Two reinforcement layouts, uniform and non-uniform, are compared. Non-uniform spacing with more layers at the bottom proves more efficient and cost-effective. The results of this study align with previous findings, validating the proposed methodology.