Research on time–frequency analysis method of active earth pressure of rigid retaining wall subjected to earthquake

Aiming at the drawback existing in the analysis methods of seismic active earth pressure of rigid retaining wall, the time–frequency computational method is proposed based on the elastic wave theory and Hilbert–Huang transform, which is full 3D nonlinear time history analysis method. It not only can consider the effect of three factors (peak ground acceleration, frequency and duration) of the bidirectional seismic wave on the seismic active earth pressure, but also can provide some valuable references for the time–frequency seismic design of other types of retaining structures. The reasonability of this method is verified by the shaking table test results, and it is more accurate than some representative methods such as limit equilibrium method and coordinated deformation method. At last, some rules and conclusions can be obtained by the parameters study, as shown in the following: With the increase in PGA, the critical rupture angle decreases, the resultant force of seismic active earth pressure increases, and its application point of resultant force gradually moves up; with the increase in frequency, the critical rupture angle and the resultant force of seismic active earth pressure are distributed in the shape of saddle and the handstand saddle, respectively. And they achieve the maximum value when the frequency is close to natural frequency of rigid retaining wall, but the application point essentially is unchanged.