2024 Volume 10 Issue 41 Pages 1539-1542
Mechanically stabilized earth walls are often constructed on both sides of road embankments behind bridge abutments (back-to-back walls). In this case, both retaining walls were constructed close to each other. However, in general seismic designs, it is often assumed that the retaining wall exists only on one side of the embankment (hereinafter referred to as a single-sided wall), and the seismic behavior of back-to-back walls is not considered. Therefore, in this study, a series of 1/20 scale shaking table model tests were performed to verify the seismic behavior of back-to-back mechanically stabilized earth walls. The following important findings were obtained. As a conclusion, a good seismic performance was obtained for back-to-back mechanically stabilized earth walls with an aspect ratio which is not extremely large, while further investigation is needed in case of large aspect ratios.
