Experimental and numerical study on the seismic behavior of anchoring frame beam supporting soil slope on rock mass

The anchoring frame beam is a widely used supporting structure in slope engineering. In this work, the dynamic behavior of anchoring frame beam under earthquake loading was studied by means of shaking table test and dynamic numerical simulation. The results of numerical simulation were compared with the test results in terms of the horizontal acceleration amplification, the vertical acceleration amplification, and the time history of displacement response. The behavior of axial stress of anchor was mainly studied by dynamic numerical simulation. The numerical results are generally consistent with those apparent in shaking table test. The results show that the natural frequency of the supported soil slope presents a decreasing trend during the shaking table test. The soil slope performs an amplification effect on input horizontal acceleration in time domain, and the energy within a frequency range that is around the natural frequency of soil slope is also amplified. Both the horizontal and the vertical acceleration amplifications present an increasing trend with the increase in input acceleration. The acceleration amplification differs greatly under different seismic motions. The frame beam presents a translation displacement together with a rotation around the vertex of frame beam. The residual deformation of frame beam increases obviously with the increase of input acceleration. A larger value of axial stress is observed at the anchor located at the bottom of frame beam. The axial stress of anchor decreases rapidly in anchorage segment, and it tends to zero within a short length under Wenchuan shaking event. The distribution curve of axial stress along the length of anchor presents two peak values after earthquake loading, which is much different from that induced by the self-weight.