Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soils Under Repeated Loading: Ar Eview and Comparative Design Study (original) (raw)

Facing Effects in Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Structures

2004

This Paper outlines the Finite Element Method of analysis for simulating of Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Retaining Walls (GRS-RWs). Results of a parametric study to investigate the effect of facing including panel facing, segmental facing and wrapped facing on the behavior of GRS-RWs in terms of displacement of wall and forces in the reinforcements are presented. However this study is focused on the walls, because of the similarities to other forms of reinforced structures in facing such as slopes and abutments it can be applied to these structures too. This study shows that facing has a strong effect especially on the displacement of walls and should be taken into account in the design procedures which is not often concerned in analysis. RÉSUMÉ Ce Papier esquisse la Méthode d'Elément Finie d'analyse pour simulers de Murs De Soutènement de Sol GeosyntheticRenforcés (GRS-RWs). Les résultats d'une étude paramétrique pour examiner l'effet de revêtement y compris le pann...

New horizons in reinforced soil technology

2008

Traditional soil reinforcing techniques involve the use of continuous geosynthetic inclusions such as geogrids and geotextiles. The acceptance of geosynthetics in reinforced soil construction has been triggered by a number of factors, including aesthetics, reliability, simple construction techniques, good seismic performance, and the ability to tolerate large deformations without structural distress. Following an overview of conventional reinforced soil applications, this paper focuses on recent advances in reinforced soil technology. Examples include advances in reinforced soil design for conventional loading (e.g. validation of analysis tools), advancesindesignforunconventionalloading(e.g.,reinforcedbridgeabutments),andadvancesinreinforcement materials (e.g., polymeric fiber reinforcements).

Numerical Modeling of Geosynthetic-Reinforced Earth Structures and Geosynthetic- Soil Interactions

Nowadays geosynthetics have been used as a routine reinforcement in earth structures such as mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls, column-supported embankments, soil slopes, and paved/unpaved roads. In those applications, reinforcement mechanisms of the geosynthetics are vaguely described as confinement, interlocking, and load shedding respectively but not fully understood. The uncertainties of the mechanisms have been reflected as overconservativeness, inconsistence and empiricism in current design methods of those applications. Various researches have been widely carried on to investigate the mechanisms of reinforcement of the above mentioned applications, especially the geosynthetic-soil interactions and then quantitatively consider them into design methods. Numerical modeling characterized as cost-and time-saving, is preferred in many circumstances. An appropriate modeling strategy is vital to yield reliable results. This paper reviewed and summarized the modeling techniques used to model modular-block MSE walls, reinforced embankments/slopes, and reinforced paved/unpaved roads, which include conventional continuum modeling based on constitutive relationships as well as micro-mechanical modeling based on Newton's law of motion, i.e., modeling the soil mass as an assembly of soil particles governed by universal physics principles. The review of conventional continuum modeling includes constitutive models for soils, geosynthetics and other components (e.g., modular blocks), interface models for contacts between dissimilar materials, and simulation of construction, while the review of the micro-mechanical modeling is extended to the principle of the micro-mechanical modeling and how the micro-mechanical modeling is implemented to model the geosynthetic-soil interaction by using the most popular micro-mechanical scheme-PFC as an example. The objective of this paper is to provide a state-of-art review of the various numerical modeling techniques and consequently promote the usage of numerical modeling in research and practice of geosynthetic-reinforced earth structures.