A SIMPLE AND EASY CALCULATION METHOD TO SEISMIC RESPONSE OF EMBANKMENT CONSIDERING HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL INTERACTION

Abstract

Conventional seismic design methods for embankments do not consider the effect of vertical ground motions; however, the level of vertical seismic motions in recent earthquakes was powerful and could have affected the horizontal response of structures located within the zone of shaking. A method to consider the dynamic interaction between horizontal and vertical seismic response is proposed. The proposed method is based on the equation of motion of the SDOF model and uses a cross spring for the interaction between horizontal and vertical movement of the mass. Based on a dynamic centrifuge test, it was shown that the proposed cross-spring model was able to suitably evaluate the seismic response of the embankment both in the horizontal and vertical directions.