ABSTRACT
Presented in this paper is a nonlinear discrete shear-slice model based on equivalent linearization technique for nonlinear seismic response analysis of embankment which is divided into soil layers system with different shear moduli and damping ratios for each layer to simulate their non-inhomogeneous distribution along depth. The differential equations are solved mathematically to obtain the natural vibration characteristics and visco-linear elastic seismic response of the embankment. The resulting linear solutions are incorporated with equivalent linearization technique to consider the nonlinear dynamic behavior of soil. In order to make the moduli and damping ratios of all individual layers be compatible with their strain amplitudes, a series of linear iterative computations are performed to achieve a linear system which is overall equivalent to nonlinear system. Finally, numerical analyses are made for an example and the computed results are compared with the solutions obtained by finite element method to illustrate the rationality of the proposed method.
