Embankment structure “Hantiku” in castle masonry stone wall and their seismic stability

Abstract

Several castle masonry stone walls in Japan become too old for their sufficient stability and are in need of some preservation works. Furthermore, Kameyama Castle in Mie Prefecture was severely damaged by Mie-ken Tyubu Earthquake in April, 2007. So, it is important to investigate the stability and dynamic property of stone wall for the preservation works of it. In this report, distinct element method (DEM) was employed to investigate the seismic behaviors of stone wall by way of example of Nagoya Castle. The main results from DEM analysis are as follows; the method for modeling of the stone walls has influence on their dynamic behavior, also the mutual relationship of engineering properties between the stone wall and the back fill soil has large effects on the stability under the seismic loading.