Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls: Parametric Study of Reinforcement Tensile Loads Under Limit State

摘要

Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) Walls are an increasingly common means of earth retention due to their ease of construction, cost, and performance. The use of manmade reinforcements to retain soil using its own self weight is very effective, yet it's design criteria is based upon a series of stability checks, internal and external, that do not always demonstrate the comprehensive behavior of the soil-reinforcement structure. Notably, the location and, possibly, the magnitude of the maximum stresses occurring within the reinforcement layers are not well defined, especially when a compound failure prevails. Within this paper, a parametric study is performed, observing the necessary tensile strength in the reinforcements to maintain stability while highlighting the need for stability analyses more robust than "internal" or "external" stability. Additionally, the effects of inter-block friction, interface friction from the backfill and toe resistance are evaluated to demonstrate possible over-conservatism in design. It is demonstrated that design criteria, which generalize for many reinforcement lengths and backfill shear strengths, may be conservative in various situations, especially for select backfill strengths. Additionally, the effects of interface friction are observed and shown to be significant, possibly cause for better-than-expected field performance.