Evaluation of Seismic Stability of Reinforced Fill Walls in Hong Kong

Abstract

Owing to the increased applications of reinforced fill walls for higher economy and efficiency as well as the increased interest on seismicity in Hong Kong, a comprehensive review on the evaluation of dynamic earth pressure and water pressure under seismic loading for reinforced fill walls was carried out in this study with reference to the previous studies on these of slopes and gravity retaining walls in Hong Kong. Moreover, the methods of assessing stability and deformation of reinforced fill walls were studied. Hence, an appropriate procedure for seismic stability analysis of reinforced fill walls in Hong Kong was proposed with due consideration of internal and external instabilities of the walls. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to investigate how the stabilities of typical reinforced fill walls in Hong Kong varied with seismic coefficients. The design peak ground acceleration and acceptance criteria for seismic stability analysis of reinforced fill walls cannot be decided purely based on the technical considerations. As such, the results of the sensitivity may assist the relevant authority to select an appropriate criteria for Hong Kong with due consideration of seismic risk and financial implications to the society.

Keywords:

• Reinforced Fill Wall
• Seismic Loading
• Dynamic Earth Pressure
• Pseudo-static Analysis
• Sarma’s Approach
• External Instability
• Internal Instability
• Deformation