Numerical analysis of geosynthetic reinforced retaining wall constructed on a layered soil foundation

Abstract A numerical examination of the behaviour of an 8 m high geosynthetic reinforced soil wall constructed on a layered foundation stratum is described. The foundation consists of a 0.8 m hard crust, underlain by 2.95 m of soft loam (sandy/silty) and then 1.3 m of stiff clay. Below the clay is 1.75 m of fine sand underlain by a layer of clayey/fine sand extending to a depth below 10 m. The wall was constructed with 16 segmented concrete facing blocks, a sandy backfill material with 30% fines and 11 layers of geogrid reinforcement 6 m long. Five additional, one metre long layers of reinforcement were used between the 6 m long layers within the upper 5 m of the wall to improve the local stability of the facing blocks. The analysis examines the effect of uncertainty regarding the drained and undrained strength of the loam foundation material, its stiffness, the thickness of this soft layer and its position with respect to the bottom of the wall on the calculated behaviour and compares the calculated and observed behaviour.

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