Behzad Soltanbeigi - Institute for Infrastructure and Environment, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Ali Soltanbeigi - Ministry of Roads & Urban Development, Main Office of Roads & Urban Development of East Azerbaijan, Tabriz, Iran

Earth retaining structures are studied for nearly two centuries and yet included in interesting topics of geotechnical engineering. The high demand for these infrastructures is due to the provided wide range of applications such as: slope stability in highways and bridge abutments. The critical issue that leads to complex behavior of retained backfills, while external loads are exerted, is the nonhomogeneity of the deformations in the soil media. These nonhomogeneous deformations are known as shear bands and are preliminary indicators of the failure zone location in the backfills. In this review, the application of novel procedures for evaluation of the deformations in backfilled soils will be discussed. Accordingly, two nonintrusive experimental visualization techniques, namely Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and X-ray, are introduced. Furthermore, details of a novel particle-scale simulation scheme, known as Discrete Element Method (DEM), which is capable of providing insight into micro-mechanism of the localized deformations, will be outlined.

Retaining structures, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), X-ray, Discrete Element Modelling (DEM), Shear Localization