Dynamic Earth Pressure on Embedded Structure

Abstract

Dynamic earth pressure is considered an important parameter in the design of embedded structures. In current engineering design simplified methods developed either for yielding or non-yielding structures are utilized to predict resultant dynamic pressure. The applicability of these equations to embedded structures have not yet been reported. In this study we perform a suite of equivalent linear time history analysis for a range of embedded structure configurations. Numerically calculated dynamic pressure is shown to depend on the flexibility ratio (F), aspect ratio (L/H) of the embedded structure, and ground motion. Increase in L/H and intensity increases the magnitude of dynamic pressure. An increase in F decreases the dynamic pressure. Overall, the trends highlight the need for development of new method that accounts for F and L/H to calculate the dynamic pressure for the performance-based design of embedded structures.