Upper limit analysis for seismic sliding stability of double-sided limited narrow slope retaining wall

The stability coefficients of double-sided constrained narrow slope retaining walls influenced by soil width, exhibit marked deviations from traditional infinite slopes. The stability calculation of retaining walls for infinite slopes, when applied to narrow slopes, leads to predictions that lack precision. In this study, a novel approach was proposed by initially quantifying the external work power and internal energy dissipation rate of the wall-soil system based on the upper bound limit analysis. An innovative energy calculation method was introduced to ascertain the overall sliding stability coefficient for the wall-soil system, taking into account both soil width and seismic loads. To further validate, the sliding failure mechanism of the wall-soil system through Finite Element Limit Analysis (FELA) was studied. A comparison between the theoretical solution and FELA results reveals significant agreement. FELA results reveal that as the soil width increases, the endpoint of the rupture surface in the double-edged restricted slope gradually shifts from the slope surface to the slope top. Furthermore, a parametric sensitivity analysis reveals that ignoring the soil width will underestimate or overestimate the safety factor of the retaining wall. Specifically, when the soil mass width l = 2 m, ignoring the soil width underestimates the safety factor by up to 10%. Conversely, it has been shown that reductions in soil width and horizontal seismic acceleration coefficients also make positive contributions to enhancing stability.