Advanced numerical modeling of seismic response of a propped r.c. diaphragm wall

The paper presents some results from a number of dynamic FE simulations carried out to investigate the seismic response of a propped flexible retaining wall in a dry coarse-grained soil, considering two bedrock acceleration time histories as seismic input. Two different soil plasticity models have been considered in this study: an anisotropic hardening, critical-state model for cyclic/dynamic loading of sands and the classical Mohr–Coulomb elastic-perfectly plastic model with nonassociative flow rule. The results obtained allow to highlight the main features of the seismic performance of such type of flexible retaining structures and to evaluate the effects of the constitutive assumptions made on soil behavior on the predicted wall displacements and structural loads.