Long-Term Field Performance of Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Retaining Walls

摘要

A study was undertaken to synthesize field long-term performance data of full-scale geosynthetic-reinforced soil (GRS) retaining walls. Upon conducting an extensive literature review and survey, seven GRS retaining walls of which the performance had been monitored for extended periods of time were selected for this study. To assess the wall performance, a conseratism index (CI) was defined to quantify the relative degree of conservativeness of the walls. In addition, a simple analytical equation was developed for predicting creep deformation of a GRS wall beyond the measurement period. The analytical equation was derived based on the synthesized behavior of the GRS walls that the logarithmic creep rate decreased linearly with logarithmic time. This study conclusively indicated that all the GRS retaining walls with granular backfill deformed very little due to creep and were stabilizing with time. The current design methodology to account for creep is overly conservative when well-compacted granular backfill is employed. Using results of a soil-geosyntheic composite performance test in conjunction with the analytical equation, long-term creep deformation of a GRS wall under project specific conditions can be predicted in a rational manner throughout its design life.