Seismic Passive Resistance of Tied‐Back Walls

Abstract

Previous work on the seismic behavior of retaining walls is briefly reviewed, and in particular, the Mononobe‐Okabe analysis for the limiting passive resistance is discussed. A test series is described that considers passive failure of a wall rotating about an 'anchor' at the top. Passive failure is induced by subjecting a small test wall to a roughly constant horizontal force, then shaking it with discrete pulses. Development of failure surfaces is observed, and forces, displacements, and acceleration distributions are recorded for each pulse. It is concluded that use of the sliding‐block model based on the Mononobe‐Okabe passive equations is justified for analysis and design, but that in practice, because of the large toe forces involved, migration of the active and passive resultants and reduced anchor resistance, a tied‐back wall would be more likely to suffer an anchorage failure with translation and rotation about the bottom than with rotation about the top.