A Finite Element Investigation on Displacements of Reinforced Soil Walls Under the Effect of Typical Traffic Loads

摘要

The present work examines the effect of a uniformly distributed traffic load that is located on top of a reinforced soil wall, in terms of displacements of the external face of the wall. Reinforced soil walls of three different heights (3, 6, and 12 m) are analyzed using an appropriate finite element program. Analyses are performed under static loading for plane strain conditions. Based on the results, regardless of the height of the wall, when the traffic load is located outside the reinforced soil mass, its effect on the vertical displacements of the wall’s face are negligible. In terms of relative horizontal displacements (ratio of displacements over wall’s height), computed values varied between 0.31 and 0.62% for different wall heights and different load locations. In any case, regardless of the height of the wall, when the load starts at a distance of 2 m behind the rear end of the wall, then practically the wall does not sustain any effect in terms of horizontal displacements.