Experimental Study on the Uplift Resistance of Plate Anchor in Sand

Abstract

An experimental investigation on the uplift resistance of circular plate anchor in both loose and dense sand is performed. A test set-up and an in-house data acquisition system are developed to capture the force and displacement when anchor uplifting. Two distinct load-displacement responses for plate anchor in loose and dense sand are observed. The peak uplift resistance and dimensionless breakout factor are significantly influenced by the sand density as well as the embedment ratio. The increasing rate of peak uplift resistance with embedment ratio is limited by the critical embedment ratio beyond which a smaller increasing rate is occurred. The critical embedment ratios for this study are determined as 4 and 6 for plate anchor in loose and dense sand respectively.