Design and behaviour of geosynthetic-reinforced soil walls constructed on yielding foundations

摘要

ABSTRACT: The short- and long-term behaviour of a 6 m high segmental block-faced geosynthetic-nreinforced retaining wall constructed on a rigid base and two 10 m thick clay foundations (onenrelatively inviscous and one viscoplastic) were numerically investigated to assess the effect of yieldingnin the foundation deposit on the internal and external stability of the wall. The influence of the ratenof loading on the undrained shear strength of the viscoplastic foundation clay deposit is examined.nThe overall short- and long-term behaviour of the reinforced soil wall, including reinforcementnstrains and deformations, are discussed and compared with the expected design values. It is shownnthat the viscoplastic nature of some clayey soils can cause a decrease in the undrained shear strengthnwith time by as much as 20% and increase the reinforcement strains by as much as 45% relative tonexpected design values.