Depth profile of Eurocode LM1 Load and its influence on geotechnical structures

Abstract

This study concerns the impact of the moving loads LM1 on geotechnical structures like embankments and retaining structures related to cut and fill slope problem for road construction and maintenance. In many national standards or recommendations there is a depth dependant reduction factor for live road loads. Bulgarian road infrastructure agency and other institutions do not account for the load reduction with depth, which corresponds to higher cost of the infrastructure itself. This problem appears mainly when calculating the most common 2D tasks, while LM1 and the soil are 3D in nature. This paper presents two geotechnical structures an embankment and a retaining wall, where 3D FEM model is used. Using higher level soil model as hardening soil model with small strain stiffness, the study obtains the reduction of the tandem systems of LM1 and its influence on the slope surface or the structure itself.