Pseudo-static analysis of reinforced earth retaining walls

The investigation of the internal stability of reinforced earth retaining walls under dynamic loading is an important issue for the seismic design. This paper presents a thorough study of the seismic behavior of earth retaining walls, using the upper bound theorem of limit analysis in combination with the discretization technique. This combination permits to generate the failure mechanism of reinforced structures point by point. The pseudo-static approach is adopted to model the seismic effect. The proposed extended methodology is validated using the conventional limit analysis results obtained by Michalowski (Comput Geotech 23:1–17, 1998a. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0266-352X(98)00016-0), showing therefore its effectiveness. A parametric study is then conducted to point out the effects of key parameters on the required reinforcement strength.