Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
parking structures, the effects of temperature cycles on the movements and stress-
es in the structure and retained soil would be substantially more pronounced. In
some respects, this behavior of rigidly framed earth retaining structures is similar
to bridges with integral abutments where temperature movements of the bridge
deck cast integrally with the bridge abutment result in cyclic interaction between
the soil and the abutment structure. In the latter case, however, the soil-structure
interaction is less complex than is the case for RFERS, given that generally inte-
gral bridges can be mostly treated as single story rigid structure restrained against
lateral movements by soil at both ends of the bridge, while RFERS may be multi-
story, multi-bay structures with lateral displacements unrestrained at one end.
Nonetheless, extensive research has been conducted recently documenting the
soil-structure interaction of integral bridge abutments.
1.4 Scope of Contribution to the Behavior of REFRS
The relationship between temperature and earth pressure acting on rigidly framed
earth-retaining structures (RFERS), subject to wide temperature variation, is ex-
plored in this topic. After a review of relevant literature on earth pressure is
presented in Chapter 2, three distinct studies are presented, as follows:
1.4.1 Closed Form Expressions for Lateral Deflection of RFERS
A simplified closed form analytical expression is formulated in Chapter 3 for cal-
culating the lateral drift of low rise rigidly framed structures subjected to hydro-
static, uniform, seismic, or semielliptical loading. Additionally, the general form
of the equations can be used to predict the magnitude of the lateral force even if
the shape of the earth pressure is unknown, with a reasonable degree of accuracy.
A statistical analysis determined that the expression had better than 80% probabil-
ity to yield deflections that are within 25% of the value computed using finite
element analysis (FEA).
1.4.2 Experimental Study
An extensive review of the literature resulted in the conclusion that no published
research on the soil-structure interaction of rigidly framed earth retaining struc-
tures was available. For this reason, an experimental study of a full scale RFERS
in service was conducted to understand and document its behavior.
The structure, described in Chapter 4, is a four-story reinforced concrete park-
ing garage, open to the elements on three sides and subjected to large temperature
variations. A visual survey of the building revealed severe distress in several
structural elements and the failure of one column on the top level. Furthermore,
the building structure underwent large lateral deformations nearing 3 inches on the
same level. The magnitude of these displacements could not be validated through
