Effect of EPS Geofoam on Retaining Wall Subjected to Seismic Forces

Effect of EPS Geofoam on Retaining Wall Subjected to Seismic Forces

Phenomenological Aspects of Civil Engineering (PACE) - an International Congress
Volume 1 - Issue 1 - PACE-2021

A ITHELO AYEH SHAMSHAD ALAM

Abstract

The lateral deflection of the retaining wall under seismic loading is a major issue as it causes failure of back fill in most of the cases. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) geofoam is a light weight material which is usually used as fill in embankments and as a compressible inclusion behind the retaining walls. However, the position and orientation of EPS geofoam effects the deflection of retaining wall under the seismic force and has got very less attention. So, this paper mainly focuses on the position of EPS geofoam behind the L-shaped retaining wall to control the deflection under the seismic forces. Along with the orientation of EPS geofoam, the length of base slab of L-shaped retaining wall was also varied. The analysis was performed in Plaxis 2D for both static and dynamic cases. The combination of vertical and horizontal EPS inclusions was found to reduce the lateral earth pressure by more than 80% thereby reducing the lateral deflection.

Keywords

EPS geofoam, fly ash, retaining wall, seismic force, horizontal deformations.
https://www.acapublishing.com/dosyalar/baski/PACE_2021_240.pdf