Wednesday, 18 November, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Evening Lecture – Performance based Aseismic Design of Rigid Retaining Walls
By Professor Shamsher Prakash, P.E., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Retaining walls have failed either by sliding away from the backfill or due to combined action of sliding and rocking displacements, during earthquakes. Performance based design of the retaining walls in seismic areas must account for these displacements, in addition to the usual factors of safety against failure in bearing, sliding and overturning.
A realistic model for estimating dynamic displacement, which accounts for the combined action of sliding and rocking and takes into consideration, non-linear stiffness of soil and geometric and material damping and coupling effects is now available (2009).
This model has been used to calculate the displacement for several combinations of backfi ll and foundation soil conditions.
Based on this study, typical design charts for preliminary Performance Based Design have been proposed.
Download flyer.
About the speaker:
Professor Shamsher Prakash introduced “Soil Dynamics” in India in 1962 where he set up the first “Soil Dynamics” lab at the then University of Roorkee, (now Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India).
He introduced the concept of “Displacement Based Design of Rigid Retaining Walls under Seismic Conditions” in 1973 at Roorkee, and later joined the faculty of the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR) in 1978, continued his research on those topics, and is now a recognized leader on the subject.
Dr. Prakash was recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, in December 2008 and has been cited for his significant contributions to geotechnical earthquake engineering, prediction and performance in geotechnical engineering and is a recognized yoga guru.
Date: Wednesday 18th November 2009
Time: 5.30 pm Drinks and nibbles and 6.00 – 7.00pm Presentation followed by questions and discussion
Location: Room LT1, Faculty of Architecture and Design, Victoria University of Wellington, 139 Vivian Street, Wellington
Contacts:P Brabhaharan (NZSEE), Tel 471 7842 and David Stewart (NZGS, Wellington Branch Co-ordinator), Tel 04 471 7155
A joint presentation from the Wellington and Christchurch Branches of New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering (NZEE) & The New Zealand Geotechnical Society Inc (NZGS).
Please contact the 
