INTERNAL STABILITY ANALYSIS OF SEGMENTAL GEOGRID-REINFORCED SOIL RETAINING WALLS

摘要

Segmental geogrid-reinforced soil retaining wall is gaining increasing popularity due to its cost effectiveness and ease in construction. Internal stability analysis is a critical step in designing such structures, which to a great extent determines the layout and density of reinforcements. Maximum load in each reinforcement layer and the potential failure surface are two critical parameters in internal stability analysis. Nonlinear Finite Element method was used to investigate the maximum load in each reinforcement layer and its lateral location with different reinforcement densities and different backfilled soils. The effects of reinforcement creep on the two parameters were also analyzed.The results were then compared to those obtained using the suggested internal stability analysis method by FHWA. It was found that with regular reinforcement the locations of maximum reinforcement loads from the FE analysis were closer to the facing than those using the suggested method; it was also found that the maximum reinforcement load was smaller. The results agree with the findings from field and laboratory experiments by other investigators.