Displacement versus pseudo-static evaluation of the seismic performance of sliding retaining walls

Pseudo-static seismic analysis of retaining walls requires the selection of an equivalent seismic coefficient synthetically representing the effects of the transient seismic actions on the soil-wall system. In this paper, a rational criterion for the selection of the equivalent seismic coefficient is proposed with reference to sliding retaining walls. In the proposed approach earthquake-induced permanent displacements are assumed as a suitable parameter to assess the seismic performance and an alternative definition of the wall safety factor is introduced comparing expected and limit values of permanent displacements. Using a simplified displacement prediction model it is shown that, for a given design earthquake, reliable values of the equivalent seismic coefficient should depend on all the factors affecting the stability condition of the soil-wall system and on a threshold value of permanent displacement related to a given ultimate or serviceability limit state. To achieve a match between the results of the pseudo-static and of the displacement-based analysis, the proposed procedure detects the value of the equivalent seismic coefficient for which the two approaches provide the same factor of safety. Thus, without necessarily carrying out a displacement analysis, a measure of the safety condition of a soil-wall system consistent with the actual seismic performance may be achieved through an equivalent pseudo-static analysis.