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Kinematic Response of a Gravity Retaining Wall in the Cephalonia, Greece, 2014 Earthquakes

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Abstract

The seismic behavior of earth retaining structures continues to remain a critical consideration in engineering design and lessons learned from the full-scale performance of retaining walls during earthquakes are invaluable. The observed performance of several retaining walls in the area affected by the 2014 Cephalonia, Greece, earthquakes is presented. Subsequently, the case of measured kinematic response (i.e. residual seismic movements) of a 6.0 m high concrete gravity-type “retaining wall-backfill” system, which displaced during the earthquake, but remained functional is presented. The recording of a strong motion station—located at a distance of less than 200 m from the wall—was used to describe the horizontal earthquake ground excitation. The inertial response of the “wall-backfill” system was analyzed through a finite element numerical model based on in-situ shear wave velocity measurements and values of mechanical soil properties back-calculated from the measured kinematic response of the system to the particular earthquake. The selection of soil material values of stiffness and strength was based on the results of post-earthquake Vs-depth measurements at the wall site. The measured kinematic response of the “wall-backfill” system was compared to predictions of several published empirical relations. The empirical relations were all found to overpredict the observed displacements and in some cases, significantly. The derived numerical model of the “wall-backfill” system was subsequently used to investigate (a) the magnitude and distribution of seismic earth pressures on the wall as well as the backfill settlements, and (b) the beneficial phase difference developed between the peak values of wall inertia and active earthquake thrust increment during the particular earthquake event. The results of this case history agree well with previously published results concerning the inertial response (seismic earth pressures and phasing issues) for walls retaining cohesionless and cohesive backfills.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance provided by the Technical Works Division of the Regional Unit of Cephalonia and Ionian Islands regarding the design and construction issues of the earth retaining wall presented in the paper. The partial financial support of the post-earthquake field reconnaissance effort of the first two authors in the Cephalonia island by the Laboratory of Geotechnical Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Patras, and by the Geoengineering Extreme Events Reconnaissance Association (GEER) for the third author is also greatly appreciated.

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  1. George Athanasopoulos

    Present address: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Patras, Rion, Greece

  2. Dimitrios Zekkos

    Present address: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Environment and Urban Planning, Municipality of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece

    Vasileios Kitsis

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  1. Vasileios Kitsis
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design as follows: Vasileios Kitsis: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Visualization, Writing—Original Draft, Writing Review & Editing. George Athanasopoulos: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Supervision, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review & Editing. Dimitrios Zekkos: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing—Review & Editing.

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Correspondence to Vasileios Kitsis.

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Kitsis, V., Athanasopoulos, G. & Zekkos, D. Kinematic Response of a Gravity Retaining Wall in the Cephalonia, Greece, 2014 Earthquakes. Geotech Geol Eng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-024-02776-7

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