Calculation of Natural Frequencies of Retaining Walls Using the Transfer Matrix Method

Abstract

The dynamic response magnitudes of retaining walls under seismic loadings, such as earthquakes, are influenced by their natural frequencies. Resonances can occur when the natural frequency of a wall is close to the loading frequency, which could result in serious damage or collapse. Although field percussion tests are usually used to study the health state of retaining walls, they are complicated and time consuming. A natural frequency equation for retaining walls with tapered wall facings is established in this paper using the transfer matrix method (TMM). The proposed method is validated against the results of numerical simulations and field tests. Results show that fundamental frequencies decrease gradually with wall height; soil elastic modulus exerts a great influence on the fundamental frequency for walls with smaller facing stiffness; fundamental frequencies are smaller for a hinged toe than a fixed toe condition, and this difference is smaller in taller walls.

Oscillations of retaining wall subject to Grob’s swelling pressure

“…Vibrations of retaining walls caused by dynamic (seismic) loading were investigated analytically using linear approximation 9 . Experimental and numerical results for concrete retaining walls under low-frequency dynamic loading were reported in 10 .…”

An Application of the Modified Finite Element Transfer Matrix Method for a Heat Transfer Problem

“…Xu and Jiang (2019) used the transfer matrix method for the free vibration analysis of retaining wall [27]. Kang et al (2019) Based on the transfer matrix method, they suggested modeling for periodic graphene structures [28].…”

“…Bozdoğan&Khosravi Maleki/Kırklareli University Journal of Engineering and Science 5-1(2019)[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] …”