Experimental and theoretical research on the seismic performance of RC retaining wall strengthened with diagonal bracing

In this paper, the quasi-static tests were carried out for RC retaining wall strengthened with diagonal bracing. Behavior assessment of retaining walls included failure mode, hysteretic response, stiffness degradation, energy dissipation and shear deformation. In addition, the strut-and-tie calculation model is proposed to calculate the bearing capacity. Compared with the unstrengthened retaining wall, the compressive failure of the wall panel and concrete spalling failure were less pronounced for the diagonal bracing strengthening wall due to the diagonal bracing sharing a portion of the shear force. And the stress concentration at the four corners of the opening can be relieved. The RC retaining wall strengthened with diagonal bracing experiences a significant increase of 141% in the cracking load and 21% in the peak load, compared to the unstrengthened retaining wall. And the shear deformation of the retaining wall strengthened with diagonal bracing contributes to over 50% of the total lateral deformation. Furthermore, the strut-and-tie calculation model proposed in this paper can effectively predict the bearing capacity of the strengthened and unstrengthened retaining wall.