Long-Term Reinforcement Load of Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Retaining Walls

Abstract

As increasing number of geosynthetic-reinforced soil (GRS) retaining walls are built for permanent purpose, and their long-term behaviors have become one of the most critical issues in design. However, there has been very limited study on long-term reinforcement load and its relation to various parameters of GRS walls. A finite-element procedure for the long-term response of geosynthetic-reinforced soil structures with granular backfills was first validated against the long-term model test. Extensive finite-element analyses considering the viscous properties of geosynthetic reinforcements were then carried out to investigate the load distributions in geosynthetic reinforcements of GRS walls under operational condition. Construction sequence was simulated and a creep analysis of 10 years was subsequently conducted on each model wall. The effects of wall parameters, including backfill soil, reinforcement length, reinforcement spacing, reinforcement stiffness, and creep rate of reinforcement were investigate...