Cyclic behaviour of geocell-reinforced backfill behind integral bridge abutment

摘要

The primary objective of this research is to investigate geocell reinforcement for integral abutment bridge backfill. In this study, eight physical model tests were performed to investigate the effect of backfill soil reinforcement with geocell under a cyclic loading condition. In each test, 120 loading cycles were applied to the wall. Then, the lateral load at the top of the wall and the pressures in the wall height were measured during the test. The main variables studied in this research were the relative lateral displacement of the abutment to its height (δ/H), the geocell type (diamond-shaped and square-shaped), the height of the geocell relative to the distance between geocell layers ((hg)/D) and the length of the reinforcing zone relative to the wall height ((L)/H). The results of the tests show that soil reinforcement with geocell significantly decreased the peak lateral soil coefficient (K_(peak)) of the soil behind the wall. Also, with increasing ((δ)/H) and decreasing ((L)/H) the peak lateral soil coefficient (K_(peak)) and settlement behind the wall increased. Besides, the test results reveal that the type of geocell has an insignificant impact on the peak lateral soil coefficient (K_(peak)). Abbreviations: LVDT: linear variable differential transformer; HDPE: high-density polyethylene; PC; pressure cell; GRS: geosynthetic-reinforced structure; EPS: expanded poly styrene