Fragility analyses and strong ground motion response of mechanically stabilized earth retaining walls with plate anchors

Reliable and cost-effective design of mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls in earthquake-prone regions remains a fundamental challenge in geotechnical engineering. The present study evaluates the seismic performance and failure levels of MSE walls. To this end, the influence of ground motion frequency content with different amplitudes on wall response has been investigated to compute the displacements, and to develop fragility curves based on multiple intensity measures. Numerical simulations were performed using PLAXIS 2D, incorporating the hardening soil model with small-strain stiffness to accurately capture the nonlinear deformation behavior of the backfill. The analyses include walls with single, double, and triple plate anchors of varying dimensions subjected to real near-fault earthquake records. The results demonstrate that triple plate anchors are more effective than single plate anchors in reducing horizontal and vertical displacements, earth pressure, and acceleration amplification. However, the internal forces along the walls remained similar across anchor configurations. These findings confirm the effectiveness of increasing the number of plate anchors in mitigating seismic damages to MSE walls. Specifically, the probability of seismic-induced failure can be reduced by approximately 25% with double plate anchors and up to 43% with triple plate anchors, highlighting a viable and cost-efficient strategy for enhancing structural resilience in seismically active regions.