Abstract：The application of soil reinforcement elements in compacted backfill can significantly improve the seismic resistance of a retaining structure. To this end，shaking table tests were performed on mechanically stabilized earth cantilever retaining wall under sine wave loading at a frequency of 5 Hz. The response acceleration of the model wall and backfill，dynamic earth pressure，displacement and reinforcement tensile force were monitored under 0.11 g(minor)，0.24 g(moderate)，and 0.39 g(major) accelerations. The variation of dynamic characteristics of model structure，interaction between wall facing and backfill and stress level of the reinforcement with different imposed accelerations was illuminated. The results show that hysteresis effects and nonlinear amplification process were observed in the accelerations of backfill along the wall facing，and the acceleration tended to increase with the rise of vibration amplitude. The definition of the most unfavorable conditions(critical state) in terms of system stability is that the wall moves away from backfill under the maximum inertia force. The synchronization between mobilized dynamic earth pressure on the back of wall facing and peak inertia force becomes more pronounced with the increase of acceleration amplitude. The earth pressure acting on the wall was more significant with an acceleration of 0.39 g. The dynamic earth pressure is generally higher on the upper portion than the lower portion of the wall. The resultant force acts at approximately 2/3 the height of wall，much larger than that obtained from the current code. The spatial distribution of dynamic tensile force from reinforcement is unequal，and is an indication of potential failure surface that follows a piecewise linear function starting from the end of the slab base.
