Kinematic Constraints Based Method for Extensible Reinforcement in MSE Walls

摘要

A method for the analysis of reinforced earth walls which includes the interaction between the three components of the system (i.e. soil, reinforcement and the wall facing) was recently introduced by Klar and Sas. The statical indeterminacy of the system was solved using minimization requirements on the kinemati-cal compatibility between the reinforcement layers and the wall. The method entailed a genetic type algorithm, which required significant computational effort. The main drawback of the original method is that it is limited to inextensible reinforcement. The current paper treats the aforementioned limitation by improving the method through the use of an alternative algorithm which involves the solution of the differential equations representing the reinforcement deformation. The suggested algorithm involves a repetitive linear solution of the wall's deformation equations in a matric form, using an input vector based on a non-linear top-down procedure which represents the soil and the reinforcement behavior.