Temperature Distribution in Mechanically Stabilized Earth Wall Soil Backfills for Design Under Elevated Temperature Conditions

摘要

Two-dimensional (2D) transient numerical thermal modeling was undertaken using ANSYS FLUENT v12.1 software to estimate distribution of soil backfill temperatures in a typical mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall. The modeling was calibrated using field-measured temperature data from the Tanque-Verde MSE wall in Tucson, Arizona (AZ) in which computed temperature data were found to be within ±5% of the field data. The calibrated model predictions for Las Vegas, Nevada (NV) showed an overall average soil backfill temperature of 34.3℃ relative to a maximum outside surface temperature of 51.6℃. Such a high average soil backfill temperature calls for modification of design procedures since conventional designs are based on geosynthetic tensile strength determined at 20℃.