Energy-based horizontal slice method for pseudo-static analysis of reinforced walls

ABSTRACT: Limit equilibrium methods are widely used to analyse the stability of reinforced-soil walls. The horizontal slice method (HSM) is a limit equilibrium method developed to analyse the seismic stability analysis of reinforced slopes. Despite the capability of HSM for analysis of reinforced slopes subject to assigned distributions of acceleration, the actual distribution of acceleration along the height of a reinforced-soil slope or wall cannot be determined. In this study, an energy-based HSM is presented that estimates the distribution of acceleration along the height of a wall by satisfying the minimum total potential energy principle for a sliding wedge. The fundamental frequency of a reinforced-soil wall is also determined using the multiple mass–spring method. A simple correlation for fundamental frequency of reinforced walls is presented based on the results of a parametric study that evaluated the effects of wall height, input base acceleration on the acceleration amplification factor and fundamental frequency of a reinforced-soil wall. To determine the effect of reinforcement types such as geosynthetics and steel strips, several analyses have also been done for a wide range of reinforcement stiffness.