Earthquake induced pressures on a rigid wall structure

Abstract

This paper describes the application of linear elastic theory to estimate the earthquake-induced soil pressures on a wall forming part of the structure of a power station founded on rock. Analyses showed that the Mononobe-Okabe assumptions would not be applicable for this relatively rigid wall structure and it was found that elasticity theory gave greater forces and moments than would be obtained by using the Mononobe-Okabe method. The extent to which deformations of the structure and its foundations influence the wall pressures was investigated. It was found that even for this relatively rigid structure and foundation, the displacements resulting from the inertia of the wall structure can produce a significant increase in the total forces acting on the wall.