Seismic behaviors and design recommendations of ecological bag-reinforced retaining wall

In order to study the earthquake seismic behaviors of ecological bags-reinforced wall, the large-scale shaking table model tests are performed. It is shown that the frequency decreases and the damping ratio increases with the increase of external loading. The PGA amplification factor decreases with the increase of earthquake magnitude, and the wall height has little effect. The distribution of horizontal peak dynamic soil pressures along height is of large value at both ends and small value at the middle for the ecological bag-reinforced wall, and the peak dynamic earth pressures increase as the PGA and wall height increase, the effect of frequency content characteristics of ground motions on the amount and distribution of peak dynamic earth pressures is little. The effect of slope rate on mechanical characteristics of ecological bag-reinforced wall is studied through numerical simulation. The results show that the lateral soil pressures and tensile stresses of the tied reinforcement increase with the increasing slope rate. When the slope rate is less than 1∶0.75, the lateral soil pressures increase a little, while it is greater than 1∶0.75, the lateral soil pressure increase quickly and are triangular-distributed approximately. The tensile stress of the tied reinforcement is unimodal distribution along the length, and increases with the increase of backfill depth. Moreover, the shear stress increment, sliding range and displacement increase with the increasing slope rate.