Appraisal of Anchor Arrangement and Size On Sand-Geogrid Interaction In Direct Shear

Soil – reinforcement interaction is a major factor in the analysis and design of reinforced earth structures. In current research the effects of attaching elements of different size and numbers as anchors on enhancement of interaction at soil - geogrid interface under direct shear conditions were studied. Poorly and well graded sands (SC & Sf), a high density polyethylene geogrid, anchors with three different size and numbers (layouts) and clamping length of 2cm from shear surface were used. Samples were prepared dry at a relative density of 80% in a 30×30cm direct shear box and subjected to normal pressures of 12.5, 25 and 50kPa with the shear load applied at a rate of 1mm/min. Results of the assessment show that anchored geogrids improve shear resistance at interface mainly due to mobilization of passive soil resistance that is significantly influenced by the magnitude of the normal pressure and the number and size of anchors. Interaction enhancements achieved varied between a minimum of 8% and a maximum of 42%.

Flexural Behaviour and Internal Forces Redistribution in LWAC Double-Span Beams

This research study aimed to investigate the effect of the lightweight aggregate concrete and steel reinforcement interaction on the behaviour of continuous beams compared to the normal concrete of the same strength. This paper presents six full-scale, double-span beams with a rectangular cross-section made of both lightweight and normal concrete. The study confirmed that beams made of lightweight aggregate concrete achieve comparable flexural capacities to those made of NWC but their deformability and ductility are lower. Although the redistribution of internal forces depends mainly on the longitudinal reinforcement ratio, the influence of ultimate compressive strains of concrete is also noticeable. The ultimate compressive strains in LWAC are generally lower than in NWC. The lower rotational capacity of LWAC results in smaller degrees of moment redistribution in beams made of this concrete compared to normal concrete beams.

Geogrid pull-out modelling using DEM

With the advancement of the use of synthetic reinforcements in geotechnics, a greater understanding of the mechanisms involved in soil-reinforcement interaction is the focus of major research centres on the subject. The topic of this study is the shearing behaviour at interfaces between granular materials and geogrids. The main objective is to provide a more fundamental understanding of some micromechanisms present in this type of interface, which in turn are important to optimize the design of such reinforcement. The numerical modelling of these reinforced structures must deal with the complexity of the material-reinforcement interaction problem; therefore, it requires specific numerical models whose formulations admit localized behaviours in the contacts as well as the granular nature of the material (e.g., soil, gravel, ballast). A robust and flexible way of modelling this problem is through the Discrete Element Method (DEM). The DEM proposes to model this granular nature by representing the soil as interacting constituent particles, whose behaviour is ruled by physical laws defined at the contact points. The numerical approach is desirable since it allows, in an articulated and relatively fast way, studying closely different regions of the interface, in order to identify factors and variables that are important for the problem. The purpose involves the DEM for a 3D modelling of a geogrid pull-out test to calculate the magnitude of forces in different elements of the geogrid (i.e., nodes, longitudinal and transverse members). Preparation of numerical samples has a particular importance in the final results of simulations. Thus, the numerical techniques used to obtain better geometry for the geogrid and a granular assembly with a representative grain rolling effect are also presented in this paper.

Crack widths in portal frame bridges subjected to restraint effects

<p>Restraint stresses appear in structural parts which are prevented from adjusting their shape when subjected to e.g. shrinkage or thermal actions. If the restrained stresses are large, cracking might occur, which can affect the durability of the structure. In the case of restraint effects, the reinforcement required in a bridge to limit the crack widths can be difficult to determine, as the magnitude of the restraint stresses depend on the stiffness of the structure. If cracking occurs, the stiffness is reduced and thereby also the stresses. For this reason, in structural parts affected by restraint effects, it can be hard to estimate both the number of cracks that will appear and the resulting restraint stress that governs the crack widths.</p><p>In this study, crack widths in a portal frame bridge subjected to thermal actions and shrinkage were investigated using non-linear FE analysis. A bond-slip relation was used for concrete-reinforcement interaction, as the resulting crack spacing was unknown. Corresponding analysis was performed using linear elastic material models and hand calculations of crack widths, for two different thermal load cases, and relations between the results from the different methods are presented. The result can lead to the development of a more accurate design model, which would lead to more efficient use of reinforcement.</p>

Pullout Behavior of Steel Mechanically Stabilized Earth Reinforcements

Instrumented pullout tests of unprecedented scope and scale explore the pullout behavior for three steel mechanically stabilized earth reinforcement types: ribbed strips, ladder-like strips, and three-wire bar mat grids. These data quantify the distribution of pullout resistance between longitudinal elements and illustrate the nature of certain reinforcement deformations. Consistent with characteristic inextensible pullout behavior and soil-reinforcement interaction, synthesized strain-gage data illustrate linear stress reduction along the embedment length during pullout for all three reinforcement styles. For ladder-like strips, the axial force divides evenly between the two longitudinal elements. For the three-wire bar mat grid, the center bar carries approximately 40% of the axial force, whereas each outside bar carries approximately 30% of the axial force. Observed pullout-induced deformation in the transverse elements of three-wire bar mat grids having widely spaced longitudinal bars is conceptually different from extensible behavior and suggests the need for refinement in current pullout resistance formulations.