Performance-Based Forensic Evaluation of Reinforced Soil Structures Using Displacement-Based Back-Analysis and Seismic Resistance Curves
Abstract
This study presents a performance-based forensic investigation of the Tanada Wall, a geosynthetic reinforced soil wall with a full height rigid facing that experienced strong shaking during the 1995 Hyogoken Nambu earthquake in Japan. The analytical framework integrates a compiled soil stress–displacement dataset, limit equilibrium constraints, displacement-based back analysis, reconstruction of the displacement (Δ3h)– seismic inertial coefficient (kh) curve (called seismic resistance curve), and sys-tematic parameter sensitivity evaluation. The displacement-based seismic resistance curves developed using representative soil parameters show that the Tanada Wall maintains strong seismic resistance up to HPGA ≈ 0.7–0.8 g, with displacement trends that remain physically consistent across three logarithmic cycles. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate that only three parameters—the soil stiffness number K, peak friction an-gle φpeak, and residual friction angle φres—exert dominant influence on Δ3h, while all remaining soil, reinforcement, and facing parameters contribute only minor variations on the order of a few 10⁻³ m. These findings show that the Force equilibrium based Fi-nite Displacement Method (FFDM), supported by laboratory evidence and displace-ment based inference, provides a rigorous and physically grounded methodology for forensic evaluation of reinforced soil structures.
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