Creep of geosynthetic reinforced soil retaining walls: Fid-Bau Portal

Creep of geosynthetic reinforced soil retaining walls

Sawicki, A.

A simple method of performing a creep analysis of a RS (geosynthetic reinforced soil) retaining wall is presented. This method enables horizontal creep induced displacements of the structure's facing to be estimated. The shape of facing's deformation is given in analytical form. The proposed method has been based on simple assumptions regarding behaviour of the structure. For example, the triangular character of the active zone was assumed. This approach can be extended to other shapes of a potential failure surface (e.g. bi-linear). It can also be applied to the analysis of steep reinforced slopes and other RS structures provided that the active zone and the initial stress distribution can be established. One simple method for estimating the initial stresses in reinforcement is also presented in this paper. Other methods can also be used for this purpose. The experimental investigations on the model RS retaining wall are described and the experimental data compared with theoretical predictions. Encouraging agreement between the experiment and theory was obtained. More research, both empirical and theoretical, is required to obtain a deeper insight into the mechanics of RS, and improve design methods.