Centrifuge-based physical modeling is widely adopted for understanding the performance of geostructures, like reinforced slopes, clay liners of municipal solid waste landfills, geogrid-reinforced soil walls, earthen dams, soil nailed slopes, etc. This study aims to highlight the benefits of centrifuge-based physical modeling in order to comprehend the performance of different geostructures both prior to and during failure. Firstly, a discussion is made on scaling considerations along with modeling aspects of various types of phenomena like rainfall, flooding, etc. Further, details of four types of balanced/beam centrifuge equipment used for understanding the behavior of various types of geostructures at high gravity conditions, along with errors due to radial acceleration field, are also presented. In the process, innovative development of cost-effective actuators for simulating: (1) continuous differential settlements of landfill lining systems, (2) seepage of water through a slope, (3) seepage-induced flooding, (4) dynamic compaction, (5) rainfall-induced seepage, and (6) pseudo-static seismic loading along with flooding-induced seepage has been done. Different types of instrumentation units like potentiometers (P), linearly variable differential transformers, pore-water pressure transducers, load cells, accelerometers, strain gauges, etc., along with wireless data acquisition systems were used for monitoring the performance of the models during centrifuge tests. Additionally, the use of particle image velocimetry, digital image analysis, and the digital-cross correlation technique to evaluate the performance of several models evaluated at high gravity is covered. Lastly, it has been sufficiently shown that using digital image analysis/digital image correlation approaches in conjunction with centrifuge-based physical modeling analysis is a useful study tool. Insights gained in understanding the behavior of geostructures in a geotechnical centrifuge, especially subjected to climatic events like rainfall, flooding, and earthquakes, are highly significant and help in designing and constructing geostructures with confidence to engineers.

The dynamic response for different earth-retaining walls having geogrid as a reinforcement, combined with cohesionless granular material for backfill to mitigate earth pressure, has been examined through scale-down shaking table experiments and full-scale 3D FE analysis, utilizing ABAQUS as the finite element software. The scale factor is 1/4th for scaled-down. This study included various physical modelling experiments using different geogrid-reinforced earth retaining (GRER) walls (1 m height, 7.5 cm, thickness, and length 1 m). Additionally, comprehensive 3D finite element analysis were conducted with the configurations measuring (4 m, height 0.3 m, thickness, and length 4 m). This study examines hollow prefabricated concrete panels with shear key (PC-W), stone masonry walls of gravity type (GM-W), and traditional reinforced concrete (RC-W) walls. It also presents comparative investigations, such as lateral horizontal displacement of the wall, lateral pressure to the backfill, backfill soil settlement, and settlement of the wall foundation of various (GRER) walls. The accuracy of the Finite Element simulation framework has also been assessed in the shaking table experiment, as well as the FE analyses. According to the results, a PC-W wall with a shear key is the most effective type because it shows more resistance toward displacement. As per the comparison of the test models, GRER walls' seismic response was more affected by the earthquake waves from the far field having long-term high acceleration values. In contrast, seismic waves from the close field had a smaller impact on the walls' seismic response. However, the geogrid could improve the GRER seismic resilience deformation. Geogrid layers may reduce backfill pressures and backfill settlements. The geogrids located in the central portion within the reinforced soil and the geogrid roots connected to the walls were essential to the seismic design of the geogrid-reinforced earth retaining wall. To evaluate the reliability of the findings, the models have a predicted R2 variance below 0.1, indicating a consistent relationship between these two variables.