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Computation of the Rotational Displacements of Gravity Retaining Walls by the

Pseudo-Dynamic Method

Anindya Pain1; Deepankar Choudhury, M.ASCE2; and S. K. Bhattacharyya3

1
Ph.D. Student, Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), New Delhi 110001, India;
Scientist, CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee 247667, India. E-mail:
pain_anindya@yahoo.co.in
2
Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai
400076, India; Adjunct Professor, Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), New Delhi
110001, India. E-mail: dc@civil.iitb.ac.in
3
Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302,
India; Former Director, CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee 247667, India. E-mail:
srimankb@gmail.com

Abstract: Seismic stability analysis is an important aspect for design of safe retaining
walls in earthquake prone areas. In this study, limit equilibrium method is used to
compute the rotational displacement of the gravity retaining wall on rigid foundation
supporting cohesionless backfill along with pseudo-dynamic seismic forces. In the
computation of rotational displacement, the location of the rotating wall and the shift
in the point of application of the seismic earth pressure after each time step is included
which is ignored in the rotating block method. From the present analysis, it is found
that the rotational displacement depends on the characteristics of the input motion,
properties of the backfill and the wall material.

INTRODUCTION

Predicting rotational displacement induced by earthquake loading is an important

aspect of the seismic design of retaining walls. Zeng and Steedman (2000) proposed
rotating block method for computation of rotational displacement of gravity retaining
wall under seismic condition. Horizontal seismic inertia force was assumed to be
pseudo-static in nature. Effect of vertical seismic inertia force was ignored. It is well
known, that a pseudo-static analysis does not consider the effects of time, frequency
and dynamic properties of the backfill material. Choudhury and Nimbalkar (2007,
2008) computed the rotational displacement of gravity retaining wall using rotating
block method and pseudo-dynamic seismic inertia forces for both passive and active
earth pressure conditions. Basha and Babu (2010) used a composite failure surface in
the computation of rotational displacement for passive earth pressure condition.
First the expression of rotational acceleration proposed by Choudhury and
Nimbalkar (2008) are reviewed and rectified, and then the rotational displacement of

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gravity retaining wall is computed for the active case. An improvement over the
rotating block method is proposed. The results are compared with the pseudo-static
method of Zeng and Steedman (2000).

METHODOLOGY
Pseudo-dynamic Forces Acting on Soil and Wall

The pseudo-dynamic analysis considers finite shear wave and primary wave
velocities within both the backfill soil and the wall material. It is assumed that the base
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of the wall is subjected to both the horizontal and vertical harmonic vibrations with
amplitude of acceleration khg and kvg respectively, depending on the shear and
primary wave velocity in the backfill soil and the wall material, the acceleration will
have some phase difference and also the acceleration may amplify towards the ground
surface. The expression of acceleration distribution along the depth of the wall at any
instance was proposed by Choudhury and Nimbalkar (2008). The expression of
acceleration distribution for the backfill soil and the wall are as follows:
H z (H z)
ahs ( z , t ) = 1 + ( f a 1) kh g.sin t (1)
H Vs
H z (H z)
avs ( z, t ) = 1 + ( f a 1) kv g.sin t (2)
H Vp

H z ( H z)
ahw ( z, t ) = 1 + ( f aw 1) kh g.sin t (3)
H Vsw
H z (H z)
avw ( z, t ) = 1 + ( f aw 1) kv g.sin t (4)
H V pw

where, H = Vertical height of the retaining wall; Vp and Vs = Primary and shear wave
velocity of the backfill soil; Vpw and Vsw = Primary and shear wave velocity of the wall
material; z = Depth from the top of the backfill; = 2/T, T = Time period of shaking;
fa = amplification factor for the backfill soil and faw = amplification factor for the wall
material and t = time
A rigid retaining wall with dry cohesionless backfill soil under active condition is
considered in the present analysis. Fig.1 shows the details of the retaining wall used
for the present study. Both sides of the wall AB and FE are inclined at an angle with
the vertical. Critical direction of inertia forces are shown in Fig.1.
A planer failure surface inclined at an angle with the horizontal f is considered in
the analysis. The mass of a thin element dz of the active wedge ABD at depth z is

soil ( H z ) tan + cot f (5)

ms ( z ) = dz
g
The total horizontal and vertical inertial forces acting within the active wedge ABD
may be expressed as

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H
Qhs ( t ) = ms ( z ) ahs ( z, t ) (6)
0
H
Qvs ( t ) = ms ( z ) avs ( z, t ) (7)
0

F bw A A D
Qvs ( t )
z Qhs ( t )
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z
Ws
dz Pae ( t ) dz
z
Qhw ( t ) Qvw ( t )
H
rc
hd
0 Pae ( t ) f F
Ww
E B B
Bw

FIG.1. Details of forces acting on the soil wedge and the wall

The total (static + seismic) active thrust, Pae(t) may be obtained by resolving the
forces on the wedge and considering the equilibrium of the forces and hence Pae(t)
may be expressed as follows,
Ws sin ( f ) + Qhs ( t ) cos ( f ) Qvs sin ( f )
Pae ( t ) = (8)
cos ( + + f )
where weight of the soil wedge ABD; Ws = 0.5 H 2 tan + cot f ( )
To determine the point of application of seismic active thrust, first the distribution of
the seismic active thrust is obtained by writing Qhs, Qvs, Ws and Pae(t) in terms of a
generic z instead of H and differentiating Pae(t) with respect to z (Steedman and Zeng,
1990). The total moment of the active earth thrust with respect to point B is calculated.
And the point of application of the active thrust may be calculated as:
H

p ( t ) cos ( H z ) dz
ae
Pae ( t )
hd ( t ) = 0
; where pae ( t ) = (9)
Pae ( t ) cos z
Similar to the case mentioned for soil inertia, the wall is also subjected to harmonic
base shaking. The mass of a thin element dz of the wall AFEB at depth z is
[b + 2 z tan ]
mw ( z ) = wall w dz (10)
g
The total horizontal and vertical inertial forces acting on the wall AFEB may be
expressed as

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H
Qhw ( t ) = mw ( z ) ahw ( z, t ) (11)
0
H
Qvw ( t ) = mw ( z ) avw ( z, t ) (12)
0

Determination of rotational displacement

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A wall starts rotating when the ground acceleration exceeds a critical base
accelerations for which the wall is at the verge of rotation. It is assumed that the wall
cannot rotate back, as it has to overcome the passive resistance of the backfill soil.
Rigid body movement of the wall is assumed to obtain the rotational displacements.
Similar assumption was made by Zeng and Steedman (2000) and Choudhury and
Nimbalkar (2008) to obtain the rotational displacements using pseudo-static and
pseudo-dynamic method respectively.

Rotational Acceleration and Error of Given Equation

Choudhury and Nimbalkar (2008) gave the rotational acceleration of the wall as
Ww
{ Pae ( t ) cos } h + ag yc Ww xc + Qhw yc + Qvw xc { Pae ( t ) sin } bw
g (13)
=
Ww 2
I c + g rc

W
The term w ag yc in the eqn. (13) is the moment of the pseudo-static wall inertia
g
force about the toe of the wall same as considered by Zeng and Steedman (2000), but
Choudhury and Nimbalkar (2008) has also considered the moment of the pseudo-
dynamic wall inertia force about the toe of the wall, which is Qhw yc . The effect of wall
inertia is considered twice in the expression of rotational acceleration.

Modification of Equation for Rotational Acceleration

After recalculation, the modified equations are proposed. In rotating block method
the angle of rotation of the wall is assume to be small so that the change in the
coordinates of the centroid of the wall and the shift in the point of application of
seismic earth pressure is ignored, as considered by other researchers [Zeng and
Steedman (2000), Choudhury and Nimbalkar (2007, 2008), and Basha and Babu
(2010)]. But the amount of rotational displacement increase with increase in the total
duration for which the ground accelerations are greater than the critical seismic
accelerations at the base. So it is very essential to update the location of the wall after
each time increment of the calculation of rotational displacement. From Fig.2,
horizontal and vertical acceleration at the centroid are
(
( ac ) x = rc sin + 2 rc cos ) (14a)

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( ac ) y = rc cos 2 rc sin (14b)

By applying DAlemberts principle of rotational motion and taking the moment of

all the forces about the point E and rearranging the terms one may obtain the rotational
acceleration as
{Pae ( t ) cos ( + )} hd { Pae ( t ) sin ( + )} ( Bw hd tan ) Ww rc cos + Qhw hw
= (15)
Ww 2
I c + g rc
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The velocity of rotation may be derived as
t
= dt when > 0 (16a)
0

=0 when eqn. (15) gives < 0 (16b)

Eqn. (14) is the direct result of assumption, which considers that the wall cannot rotate
back.

bw
F A

+ Pae ( t + t )
( ac ) y
Pae ( t )
H Qhw O
( ac ) x

rc
hw hd ( t + t )
Ww
hd ( t )

E B
= 0 + 0
FIG.2. Forces and accelerations on gravity wall with rotation during base
shaking

The rotation displacement () can be obtained as

t
= dt (17)
0

A procedure is developed to update the coordinates of the centroid of the wall and
the point of application of seismic active earth thrust during the calculation of
rotational displacement of the wall. The procedure is summarized as follows:

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1. Divide the duration of input motion being considered into n equal segments of
t duration. In general, the smaller the t the more accurate the solution will be.
2. Suppose rotation starts at time t, when the ground acceleration just exceed the
critical base acceleration, the wall will start rotating, and at that time step seismic
active thrust is Pae(t) for the wall inclination , the point of application of the active
thrust is hd(t), = 0 and = 0. The angular acceleration and angular velocity can
be determined from the eqn. (15) and (16). Calculate the rotational displacement
from the eqn. (17).
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3. For the next time step i.e. t+t, update the wall inclination to +, solve for
the active earth thrust Pae(t+t), hd(t+t) can be determined using eqn. (9), update
to 0 + . Obtain , and .
4. Repeat step 3 until the expression in eqn. (16a) is satisfied.
The above procedure is repeated for each cycle of vibration where the critical seismic
acceleration at the base is exceeded. The final rotational displacement is the
summation of individual rotational displacement during the entire shaking.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Typical results are presented by graphs for rotational displacement () of the wall.
Input parameters considered in the present analysis are as follow bw/H = 0.2 and 0.3;
= 20, 30 and 40 ; / = 0.0, 0.5 and 1.0 ; = 0, 3, 5 and 7; kv = 0.5kh; duration of
shaking (ts) = 1 to 5 sec; fa = faw = 1.0; T = 0.33 sec; unit weight of backfill soil (soil)
= 17 kN/m3; unit weight of wall material (wall) = 24 kN/m3; Vp/Vs = 1.87 for s = 0.3
(where s = Poissons ratio of the backfill soil) and Vpw/Vsw = 1.56 for w = 0.15 (where
w = Poissons ratio of the wall material)
Fig.3(a) shows the influence of soil friction angle ( ) on the rotational displacement
() of the wall. shows significant decrease with the increase in the value of ( ) . For
kh = 0.20, when changes from 20 to 30, decreases by about 82.92%.

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FIIG.3. (a) Inffluence of on and (b

b) Influencee of on ffor differentt values of
kh

Fiig. 3(b) sh hows the in nfluence off wall fricttion angle () on thee rotationall
dispplacement ( ) of the wall. decreasses with the increase in the value off . For kh =
0.300, when chhanges from 0.5 to , decreases by about 72.80%.
Fiig. 4(a) sho ows the inffluence of wall inclinaation angle () on thee rotationall
dispplacement () of the walll. It is seen that
t as kh inccreases, allso increasess; the rate off
incrrease is moree for lower values
v of . For kh = 0.330, when cchanges fromm 0 to 3,
decrreases by ab bout 81.24%%, similarly when chaanges from 3 to 5, ddecreases byy
about 78.87%, but when changes frrom 5 to 7 , ceases. So unlike tthe previouss
casees ( and )); where onlly the seismiic active earrth pressure plays the keey role, heree
the geometry off the wall plaays a pivotall role in the rrotational diisplacement. The weightt
of the wall incrreases with the
t increase in the valuee of . Heavvier wall is rreducing thee
rotaational displaacement.

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FIG.4.
F (a) In
nfluence of on for diifferent valu ues of kh annd (b) Comp parison of
rotationnal displacem ment for = 40 , = 0..5 , = 0, bw/H = 0.3, kh = 0.3, kv
= 0, fa = faw = 1.0, T = 0.33 sec,, Vs = 200 m
m/s, Vp = 3744 m/s, Vsw = 2500 m/s,
Vpw = 39900 m/s soil = 17 kN/m3 , and wall = 24 kN/m3

Thhe amount of o rotationall displacemeent is largelyy depends oon the duratiion of inputt
mottion (ts). For the input paarameters meentioned in tthe Fig. 4(b)), it is seen thhat for a 5m
m
highh retaining wall when ts increases from 3 to 5 sec, the rotational ddisplacementt
incrreases by aboout 99.52%.

mparison off Results

Com

Referring to Fig. 4(b), a typical comparison is made bbetween thee rotationall

disp
placement co omputed usiing the rotatiing block m method and thhe proposedd method forr
= 40 , = / 2 , = 0, bw/H = 0.3, kh = 0.3, kv = 0, fa = faw = 1.0, T = 0.33 sec, Vs =
2000 m/s, Vp = 374 m/s, Vsw = 2500 m/s,, Vpw = 39000 m/s soil = 117 kN/m3, annd wall = 244
kN//m3. Three different
d retaaining walls with height,, H = 1, 5 annd 10 m aree consideredd
keepping rest of the input parrameters sam me. Intentionnally the am
mplification ffactor valuess
are kept equal to t 1.0 to understand thee effect of p hase differeence of accelleration andd
also
o the consequ uence of thee assumption n of Zeng andd Steedman (2000). Fig44 (b) clearlyy
showws the impo ortance of thhe proposed method wheen the walls are subjecteed to longerr
duraation of sh haking. The values of rotational ddisplacemennt computedd using thee
propposed metho od and the rotating
r block method aare comparaable when < 1. Thee
marrginal differeence is becau use of the phhase differennce betweenn the inertia fforces in thee
backkfill soil and the wall. For example, the rotatiional displaccement com mputed usingg
the proposed methodology
m y is only 3.0 08% higherr than that oobtained usiing rotatingg
blocck method forfo the 5m hiigh retaining g wall subjeccted to 1sec of ground shaking. It iss
also
o observed th hat the inertiia forces aree in phase fo r the 1m waall whereas these are nott
in phase
p for 5 and
a 10m wallls. The assu umption of ZZeng and Steeedman (20000) is foundd
to be
b valid only y for very small values of rotationaal displacem ment ( < 1). It is alsoo

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observed that, the rotational displacement obtained using both the methodologies
reduce with an increase in the wall height. These reductions in the value of rotational
displacement may be attributed to the increase in the value of the polar moment of
inertia.

CONCLUSIONS

A solution is proposed for the calculation of rotational displacements of gravity

retaining walls. Importance of change in location of the rotating wall and the shift in
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the point of application of seismic earth pressure after each time step is highlighted.
From the analysis, it is clear that the rotational displacement not only depends on the
properties of the backfill, it depends on the characteristics of the input motion, wall
geometry and the properties of the wall material. Soil friction angle, wall friction angle
and wall inclination angle have significant influence on the rotational displacement.
The findings of the present study may be used to design retaining wall which is
seismically stable.

REFERENCES

Basha, B.M. and Babu, G.L. (2010). "Seismic rotational displacements of gravity
walls by pseudodynamic method with curved rupture surface." International
Journal of Geomechanics, Vol. 10(3): 93105.
Choudhury, D. and Nimbalkar, S. (2007). "Seismic rotational displacement of gravity
walls by pseudo-dynamic method: passive case." Soil Dynamics and Earthquake
Engineering, Vol. 27(3): 242249.
Choudhury, D. and Nimbalkar, S. (2008). "Seismic rotational displacement of gravity
walls by pseudo dynamic method." International Journal of Geomechanics, Vol.
8(3): 169175.
Zeng, X. and Steedman, R.S. (2000). "Rotating block method for seismic
displacement of gravity walls." Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental
Engineering, Vol. 126(8): 709717.

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