Physical modeling is a powerful tool among experimental methods that has been widely used to simulate the seismic behavior of various earthquake-related geotechnical problems in recent decades. While in-situ tests help better understand ground conditions, and element testing is commonly employed to attain dynamic soil parameters, they fail to identify realistic seismic behavior of soil-structure systems. Thus, physical modeling is a better approach to inspect complex phenomena, such as liquefaction-induced displacements and their mitigation techniques, level/inclined grounds or landfills, retaining walls and embankments, and soil-structure systems such as shallow or pile foundation systems through the use of appropriate similitude laws. However, soil specimens in geotechnical physical modeling need to be confined in model containers. To model the semi-infinite extent of actual ground on a shaking table in scaled physical model tests, a soil container is needed to provide confining stresses and hold the soil specimen. In this regard, several types of model containers have been developed for use in 1 g shake table or Ng centrifuge experiments over the last four decades. In this study, the crucial requirements of an ideal container for model tests are discussed. Six types of soil containers used in geotechnical physical modeling are critically reviewed. Further, the result of an extensive literature review of detailed design, construction procedures, and particular usage of each type in designated projects is presented. None of the developed containers can ideally mimic the stress-strain field of soil column under seismic conditions; however, among all types of developed model containers, laminar shear beam (LSB) containers are the most common containers due to their accuracy in reproducing one-dimensional (1D) ground response in seismic conditions.
