A Comparative Analysis in Designing Reinforced Concrete Retaining Wall and Mechanically Stabilized Earth Wall in Resisting Seismic Load

Abstract

This article presents the calculation and design of a cantilever concrete retaining wall and a mechanically stabilized earth wall by considering the external stability to withstand the seismic force that is needed in the design especially if the construction sites are in northern or western Thailand. While the calculation design examples are not widespread, this article exemplifies the calculation details in designing both reinforced concrete retaining walls and mechanically stabilized earth walls in resisting seismic load using M-O equation to estimate the dynamic lateral earth pressure and then compare the result with the design with no seismic
force with the static lateral earth pressure. This article uses a 2.5-meters retaining wall example design guided by its failure modes. Using a maximum acceleration at 0.4g and a ground acceleration at 0.12g shows that the cantilever concrete retaining wall requires less backfill soil because the cantilever concrete retaining wall also uses concrete weight in resisting forces while the mechanically stabilized earth wall uses only backfill soil weight. Furthermore, both the cantilever concrete retaining wall and the mechanically stabilized earth wall with similar rectangular backfill soil shapes have different capabilities in resisting forces, moments, and different factors of safety if considering the effects of different shapes, inertia forces, and wall friction angles