Comparison of Seismic Responses of Geosynthetically Reinforced Walls with Tire-Derived Aggregates and Granular Backfills

Abstract

This paper reports the seismic responses of geosynthetically reinforced walls with two types of backfills using shake table tests. The backfills are tire-derived aggregates (TDA) and poorly graded sand, respectively. Mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls with reinforced TDA backfill have not been fully tested under seismic conditions. In this study, two geosynthetically reinforced walls are tested on a one-dimensional shake table. A section of reduced-scale MSE wall (1.6 m high, 1.5 m deep, and 1.5 m long) is built in a box that is anchored on a shake table that can generate earthquake excitations obtained from actual field recordings. Layers of geogrid are used as reinforcement. The geosynthetic reinforcement is based on static external and internal stability design. In each test, the segmental MSE wall is instrumented with accelerometers, linear variable differential transformers, linear potentiometers, and dynamic soil stress gauges to record the accelerations, wall vertical deformations, horizontal deflections of the wall face, and transient effective stresses during the shaking, respectively. The experimental study reveals the advantageous seismic performances of a geosynthetically reforced wall with TDA backfill over an MSE wall using traditional granular backfill.