Designing and analyzing lightweight cementitious fills for retaining structures

摘要

A specific lightweight cementitious fill has a unit weight between 3-7 (kN/m~3) and compressive strength 200-2000 kPa. Stress-strain behaviour is less brittle than concrete, stronger than soil and exhibits residual strength. The unique properties make it a design challenge for both geotechnical and structural engineers. However, its benefits are obvious in solving problems where light weight and moderate strength are desirable. Most often, this occurs when embankments and retaining systems must be expanded or raised, but there is no room for distributing the increased vertical and lateral stresses. Several configurations are used to illustrate a rational analysis and design methodology. Simple analytical methods using sliding and overturning block calculations as well as finite element modelling are discussed and compared. Typical configurations are shown and the benefit, through reduced loading and increased strength are calculated and presented.