Details:

Creators:
Kiousis, Panos D. ; Wang, Judith ; Walthall, Rebecca M.
Kiousis, Panos D. ; Wang, Judith ; Walthall, Rebecca M. Less -
Corporate Creators:
Colorado School of Mines
Corporate Contributors:
United States. Federal Highway Administration
Subject/TRT Terms:
[+]
Earthquake Resistant Design Earth Walls Finite Element Method Retaining Walls Seismicity Structural Connection
Publication/ Report Number:
CDOT-2014-1
Resource Type:
Tech Report
Geographical Coverage:
Colorado
Corporate Publisher:
Colorado. Dept. of Transportation. Research Branch
Abstract:
The 4th Edition of the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications requires all states to design for a 1,000-

year return period earthquake, as opposed to earlier editions’ 500-year return period. In response to this

requirement, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) sponsored this study to examine the impact

that these more stringent design requirements have upon connection details in mechanically stabilized earth

(MSE) walls. The objective of this study was to perform displacement-based dynamic finite element analyses

of MSE walls to examine the response of selected internal components when subjected to seismic excitations

such as those expected in Colorado. Details that were of particular interest were the upper block connections

in modular block walls; the dynamic displacements of the ends of walls; and the relative displacements and

motions between the wall facings, soil reinforcement, and soil. The results of this study show that segmental

and modular block walls representative of typical current CDOT design practices performed well with respect

to both serviceability and strength requirements, even under AASHTO’s newly stringent requirement for the

consideration of a 1,000-year return period earthquake.

Implementation:

The results of these linear elastic finite element studies indicate that seismic design for MSE walls in

Colorado does not need to be routinely completed. The MSE walls, which were modeled based upon walls

designed using current CDOT MSE wall design procedures, performed very well under all of the seismic

loads examined. This means that CDOT’s MSE walls do not need to be designed for seismic loads as per the

AASHTO recommendation.


Format:
PDF
Funding:
74.900000000000006
Collection(s):
US Transportation Collection
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:cefa7b8789f0fefa47a839cd1b052e59a2ddefd90c08a571e8b28278994e4d9f
Download URL:
https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/26886/dot_26886_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supporting Files

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