Shaking and Tilt Table Tests of Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil and Conventional-Type Retaining Walls

Abstract

A series of shaking table tests was performed on relatively small-scale models of a geosynthetic-reinforced soil retaining wall with a full-height rigid facing and conventional type (gravity-type, leaning-type, and cantilever-type) retaining walls. Tilt table tests were also conducted on the geosynthetic-reinforced soil retaining wall and the leaning-type model walls. The seismic stability of these different types of walls are evaluated by both shaking and tilt table test methods and compared with each other. The observed critical seismic acceleration coefficients are compared with the values predicted by the conventional pseudo-static approach. Similarly, the observed failure plane angles in the backfill are compared with the predicted values. The effects of simple shear deformation of the reinforced backfill for the reinforced-type walls and the effects of post-peak reduction of shear resistance along the failure plane are also discussed.