Effects of Dimensions of Tire Waste Cushion on Seismic Performance of Retaining Wall

Year 2018, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 69 - 78, 01.12.2018

Ayşe Edinçliler , Yasin Sait Toksoy

Abstract

Geotechnical structures such as retaining walls
are key elements of ports and harbors, transportation system lifelines, and
other infrastructural facilities. These structures suffer excessive deformations
or damages resulting from the increased earth pressure during the earthquakes.
Inclusion of vertical compressible layers called as cushion layer can be a
solution to increase the stability of the retaining structures in seismic regions.
In the literature, two different compressible materials as geofoam and tire
wastes-sand mixtures are studied to mitigate earthquake-induced dynamic earth
pressures against rigid walls. This study proposes a seismic cushion material
as tire crumb-sand mixture in decreasing structural hazard of retaining wall
during earthquake loadings. Previous
researches showed that the cushion thickness plays an important role on the
seismic performance of retaining structures. The aim of this study is to
determine the optimum seismic cushion thickness/height ratio (t/H) to increase
the seismic performance of the wall. Both wall height and cushion thicknesses
vary to achieve the desired cushion dimensions. A typical
retaining wall with a tire waste-sand cushion is modelled by a finite element
program called PLAXIS. This paper
presents a series of numerical simulations to investigate the effects of
dimensions of compressible tire waste-sand cushion to attenuate dynamic loads
against rigid retaining walls. In addition, this research is an attempt towards
developing an environmentally friendly earthquake resistant technique that has
a reasonably good balance of cost and performance for improving the seismic
performance of retaining structures. 

Keywords

Retaining wall, seismic performance, tire crumb-sand mixtures, cushion, earthquake

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