A simple discrete element model of gravity wall response to earthquakes

摘要

The motion of gravity walls during earthquakes is considered as the coupled horizontal and rocking motion including slip of a discrete element model. This simple model consists of a rigid block (the wall) supported by rotational and translational springs and dash-pots including slider and is subjected to the base shaking in addition to lateral soil pressures in plane strain condition. The springs and dash-pots representing the foundation soil stiffness and damping are defined by analytical expressions due to Wolf (1994), while the lateral earth pressure is defined by analytical expressions due to Coulomb (1776, average pan) and Seed and Idriss (1971, transient part). The maximum horizontal co-seismic slip calculated using the model compares well with the observed maximum horizontal co-seismic slip of the quay wall in Kalamata, Greece, during the 1986 Kalamata earthquake. The model provided similar maximum dynamic amplification factor for the resultant horizontal earth force as ABAQUS code used by Psarropoulos et al. (2005) to analyse the model of a rigid retaining wall. The large post-seismic slip and settlement of the quay wall in Kobe, Japan, during the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanby earthquake had to be modeled using the two-block method after Ambraseys and Srbulov (1995).