ABSTRACT
For the first time ever, the author of the paper has found that the classical quasi-static analysis of a retaining wall for seismic load provides indirect evidence of the wave nature of the impact the sandy backfill soil exerts on the rear surface of the retaining wall. In order to prove this, the paper presents the comparative results of the calculations of a gravity retaining wall with and without consideration of soil friction under operational static and seismic loads. The calculations are based on the given dimensions of the retaining wall and the characteristics of sandy backfill soils laying on weak clay foundation soils. Thus, we obtained the dependence for measuring the angle of soil friction against the rear surface of the retaining wall under seismic load of different intensity. It seems quite convincing that the retaining wall can be designed for a seismic load of 9 points without taking into account the soil friction because soil slips on the surface of the retaining wall in case of such seismic impact. The evidence is given that the calculation results are quite consistent with the research data on the behavior of sandy soils in the base of the plate under dynamic wave loads.
