THE FAILURE OF REINFORCED EARTH WALLS BY OVERTURNING

Reinforced earth has been recently widely used in the construction of retaining walls in France, and to a limited extent in the United Kingdom. Various design methods have been developed, and different analyses are used for different failure mechanisms. This note is concerned with some experimental results and analysis for the case where the earth is very heavily reinforced; that is, so heavily reinforced that it fails as a rigid block. Experimental work is described in which model reinforced earth retaining walls with heavy reinforcement were constructed in a 200 mm wide glass-walled tank open at one end for easy access. The soil used was dry Leighton buzzard sand, of grain size 0.6-1.2 mm. The pattern of failure suggested that the walls could be analysed by considering a Coulomb wedge behind the reinforced zone, and this theory is discussed. Experimental data and radiographs strongly suggest that, if a reinforced earth wall is so heavily reinforced that it fails by block movement, the assumption that the back of the reinforced zone is rough is significant and justified. /TRRL/

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00168505
• Corporate Authors:

  Institution of Civil Engineers

  One Great George Street, Westminster
  London,   United Kingdom  SW1P 3AA
• Authors:
  • SMITH, AKC
  • Bransby, P L
• Publication Date: 1976-6

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 376-381
• Serial:
  • GEOTECHNIQUE
  • Volume: 26
  • Issue Number: 2
  • Publisher: Thomas Telford Limited
  • ISSN: 0016-8505

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Failure; Material reinforcement; Mathematical models; Mechanically stabilized earth; Reinforced concrete; Retaining walls; Sand
• Uncontrolled Terms: Experimental data; Models; Particle size distribution
• ITRD Terms: 5520: Failure; 6205: Model (not math); 6200: Particle size distribution; 3349: Reinforced earth; 3471: Reinforcement (in mater); 3359: Retaining wall; 4105: Sand
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Geotechnology; Highways; I24: Design of Bridges and Retaining Walls;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00145412
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transportation Data Coordinating Committee
• Report/Paper Numbers: Analytic
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 27 1977 12:00AM