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Abstract

The object of the present research is to obtain the pressure induced to a rigid


vertical retaining wall due to the earthquake excitation in a semi-infinite. homogeneous saturated porous medium. The excitation motion is assumed to be harmonic. The solution is based on the porous modeling of soil. It is assumed to be a porous medium consisting of two phases. water and solid particles. The method proposed by Biot in 1941 has been used to calculate the forces applied on a retaining wall. The results consist of the stresses at every point of the medium along with pore water pressure and the resultant forces on the wall and overturning moment at the wall base due to horizontal stresses. Finally it is shown that the presence of the second phase changes the resultant force compared to the dry soil condition.