Influence of toe restraint on reinforced soil segmental walls

2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (8) ◽  
pp. 885-904 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingquan Huang ◽  
Richard J. Bathurst ◽  
Kianoosh Hatami ◽  
Tony M. Allen

A verified fast Lagrangian analysis of continua (FLAC) numerical model is used to investigate the influence of horizontal toe stiffness on the performance of reinforced soil segmental retaining walls under working stress (operational) conditions. Results of full-scale shear testing of the interface between the bottom of a typical modular block and concrete or crushed stone levelling pads are used to back-calculate toe stiffness values. The results of numerical simulations demonstrate that toe resistance at the base of a reinforced soil segmental retaining wall can generate a significant portion of the resistance to horizontal earth loads in these systems. This partially explains why reinforcement loads under working stress conditions are typically overestimated using current limit equilibrium-based design methods. Other parameters investigated are wall height, interface shear stiffness between blocks, wall facing batter, reinforcement stiffness, and reinforcement spacing. Computed reinforcement loads are compared with predicted loads using the empirical-based K-stiffness method. The K-stiffness method predictions are shown to better capture the qualitative trends in numerical results and be quantitatively more accurate compared with the AASHTO simplified method.

2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 976-994 ◽  
Author(s):  
T M Allen ◽  
Richard J Bathurst ◽  
Robert D Holtz ◽  
D Walters ◽  
Wei F Lee

Proper estimation of soil reinforcement loads and strains is key to accurate internal stability design of reinforced soil structures. Current design methodologies use limit equilibrium concepts to estimate reinforcement loads for internal stability design of geosynthetic and steel reinforced soil walls. For geosynthetic walls, however, it appears that these methods are excessively conservative based on the performance of geosynthetic walls to date. This paper presents a new method, called the K-stiffness method, that is shown to give more accurate estimates of reinforcement loads, thereby reducing reinforcement quantities and improving the economy of geosynthetic walls. The paper is focused on the new method as it applies to geosynthetic walls constructed with granular (noncohesive, relatively low silt content) backfill soils. A database of 11 full-scale geosynthetic walls was used to develop the new design methodology based on working stress principles. The method considers the stiffness of the various wall components and their influence on reinforcement loads. Results of simple statistical analyses show that the current American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Simplified Method results in an average ratio of measured to predicted loads (bias) of 0.45, with a coefficient of variation (COV) of 91%, whereas the proposed method results in an average bias of 0.99 and a COV of 36%. A principle objective of the method is to design the wall reinforcement so that the soil within the wall backfill is prevented from reaching a state of failure, consistent with the notion of working stress conditions. This concept represents a new approach for internal stability design of geosynthetic-reinforced soil walls because prevention of soil failure as a limit state is considered in addition to the current practice of preventing reinforcement rupture.Key words: geosynthetics, reinforcement, walls, loads, strains, design, K-stiffness method.


2005 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 1066-1085 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kianoosh Hatami ◽  
Richard J Bathurst

The paper describes a numerical model that was developed to simulate the response of three instrumented, full-scale, geosynthetic-reinforced soil walls under working stress conditions. The walls were constructed with a fascia column of solid modular concrete units and clean, uniform sand backfill on a rigid foundation. The soil reinforcement comprised different arrangements of a weak biaxial polypropylene geogrid reinforcement material. The properties of backfill material, the method of construction, the wall geometry, and the boundary conditions were otherwise nominally the same for each structure. The performance of the test walls up to the end of construction was simulated with the finite-difference-based Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC) program. The paper describes FLAC program implementation, material properties, constitutive models for component materials, and predicted results for the model walls. The results predicted with the use of nonlinear elastic-plastic models for the backfill soil and reinforcement layers are shown to be in good agreement with measured toe boundary forces, vertical foundation pressures, facing displacements, connection loads, and reinforcement strains. Numerical results using a linear elastic-plastic model for the soil also gave good agreement with measured wall displacements and boundary toe forces but gave a poorer prediction of the distribution of strain in the reinforcement layers.Key words: numerical modelling, retaining walls, reinforced soil, geosynthetics, FLAC.


2019 ◽  
Vol 281 ◽  
pp. 02008
Author(s):  
Hicham Alhajj Chehade ◽  
Daniel Dias ◽  
Marwan Sadek ◽  
Fadi Hage Chehade ◽  
Orianne Jenck

Assessment of internal seismic stability of geosynthetic reinforced cohesive soil retaining walls with likelihood for developing cracks in the failure mechanism is typically done with the limit equilibrium method. However, in this paper, the kinematic theorem of limit analysis combined with the discretization method are used to implement the crack formation in the collapse mechanism in the internal seismic assessment of geosynthetic reinforced soil retaining walls within the framework of the pseudo-static approach. The presence of the crack leads to an increase of the required reinforcement strength that prevent the failure of the structure.


2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (12) ◽  
pp. 1225-1237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J Bathurst ◽  
Nicholas Vlachopoulos ◽  
Dave L Walters ◽  
Peter G Burgess ◽  
Tony M Allen

Current limit equilibrium-based design methods for the internal stability design of geosynthetic reinforced soil walls in North America are based on the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Simplified Method. A deficiency of this approach is that the influence of the facing type on reinforcement loads is not considered. This paper reports the results of two instrumented full-scale walls constructed in a large test facility at the Royal Military College of Canada. The walls were nominally identical except one wall was constructed with a stiff face and the other with a flexible wrapped face. The peak reinforcement loads in the flexible wall were about three and a half times greater than the stiff-face wall at the end of construction and about two times greater at the end of surcharging. The stiff-face wall analysis using the Simplified Method gave a maximum reinforcement load value that was one and a half times greater than the measured value at the end of construction. Furthermore, the surcharge pressure required to reach the creep-limited strength of the reinforcement was about two times greater than the predicted value. The results demonstrate quantitatively that a stiff facing in a reinforced soil wall is a structural component that can lead to significant reductions in reinforcement loads compared to flexible facing systems.Key words: geosynthetics, retaining walls, reinforced soil, wrapped face, structural facings.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Arwan Apriyono ◽  
Sumiyanto Sumiyanto ◽  
Nanang Gunawan Wariyatno

Gunung Tugel is an area that located Patikraja Region, Southern Banyumas. Thetopography of the area is mostly mountainous with a slope that varies from flat to steep. Thiscondition makes to many areas of this region potentially landslide. In 2015, a landslideoccurred in Jalan Gunung Tugel. The Landslide occurred along 70 meters on the half of theroad and causing traffic Patikraja-Purwokerto disturbed. To repair the damage of the road andavoid further landslides, necessary to analyze slope stability. This study is to analyze landslidereinforcement that occurred at Gunung Tugel and divides into 3 step. The first step is fieldinvestigation to determine the condition of the location and dimensions of landslides. Thesecond step is to know the soil parameters and analyzes data were obtained from the field. Andthe final step is analyzed of the landslide reinforcement by using data obtained from thepreceding step. In this research, will be applied three variations of reinforcement i.e. retainingwall, pile foundation and combine both of pile foundations and retaining wall. Slope stabilityanalysis was conducted using limit equilibrium method. Based on the analysis conducted onthe three variations reinforcement, combine both of pile foundations and retaining wall morerecommended. Application of and combine both of pile foundations and retaining wall is themost realistic option in consideration of ease of implementation at the field. From thecalculations have been done, in order to achieve stable conditions need retaining wall withdimensions of 2 meters high with 2,5 meters of width. DPT is supported by two piles of eachcross-section with 0.3 meters of diameter along 10 meters with 1-meter in space. Abstrak: Gunung Tugel adalah salah satu daerah yang terletak di Kecamatan PatikrajaKabupaten Banyumas bagian selatan. Kondisi topografi daerah tersebut sebagian besar berupapegunungan dengan kemiringan yang bervariasi dari landai sampai curam. Hal inimenyebabkan banyak daerah di wilayah Gunung Tugel yang berpotensi terjadi bencana tanahlongsor. Pada tahun 2015, peristiwa longsor kembali terjadi di ruas Jalan Gunung Tugel.Kelongsoran yang terjadi sepanjang 70 meter pada separuh badan jalan tersebut menyebabkanarus lalu lintas patikraja-purwokerto menjadi terganggu. Untuk memperbaiki kerusakan jalandan mencegah kelongsoran kembali, diperlukan analisis perkuatan tanah terhadap lerengtersebut. Studi analisis penanggulangan kelongsoran jalan yang terjadi di Gunung Tugel inidilakukan dengan tiga tahapan. Tahapan pertama adalah investigasi lapangan untukmengetahui kondisi lokasi dan dimensi longsor serta mengambil sampel tanah di lapangan.Tahap kedua adalah melakukan pengujian parameter tanah dan analisis data yang diperolehdari lapangan. Tahapan yang terakhir adalah analisis penanggulangan longsor denganmenggunakan data yang diperoleh dari tahapan sebelumnya. Pada penelitan ini, akanditerapkan tiga variasi perkuatan lereng yaitu dinding penahan tanah (DPT), turap dan DPTyang dikombinasikan dengan pondasi tiang. Analisis stabilitas lereng dilakukan dengan metodekeseimbangan batas. Berdasarkan hasil analisis yang dilakukan terhadap ketiga variasiperkuatan, DPT dengan kombinasi tiang pancang lebih direkomendasikan. Penerapan DPTyang dikombinasikan dengan minipile merupakan pilihan yang paling realistis denganpertimbangan tingkat kemudahan pelaksanaan di lapangan. Dari perhitungan yang telahdilakukan, untuk mencapai kondisi stabil diperlukan DPT dengan dimensi tinggi 2 meterdengan lebar bawah 2,5 meter. DPT tersebut ditopang oleh dua tiang tiap penampangmelintang dengan diameter 0,3 meter sepanjang 10 meter dengan jarak antar tiang 1 meter.kata kunci: tanah longsor, perkuatan tanah, metode keseimbangan batas


Author(s):  
Ripon Hore ◽  
Sudipta Chakraborty ◽  
Ayaz Mahmud Shuvon ◽  
Md. Fayjul Bari ◽  
Mehedi A. Ansary

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