Displacement based seismic assessment of cantilever retaining walls

Present study deals with displacement based seismic assessment of cantilever retaining walls. Experimental investigations and nonlinear finite element (FE) analyses have been carried out in order to understand seismic behavior of cantilever retaining walls. A scaled down model of cantilever retaining wall was used for shaking table experiment. Earthquake induced retaining wall displacements, free vibration response of retaining wall and seismic pressure behind retaining wall were investigated based on experimental and numerical results. It was observed that seismic performance of cantilever retaining wall is highly influenced by backfill soil. Retaining wall displacement and settlement of backfill soil is mainly dependent on the severity of seismic shaking.