Post-Construction Time History of Tensile Force in Geogrid Arranged in a Full-Scale High Wall

Abstract

To confirm a very low possibility of tensile rupture until the end of specified life time of polymer geogrids arranged in a full-scale reinforced soil retaining wall (21 m-high with a slope of 1:0.3 in V:H) constructed to support a taxi way of an airport, time histories of tensile force in the reinforcement were estimated based on those of measured tensile strain in the reinforcements in the wall. To this end, tensile tests were performed on the geogrids and their elasto-viscoplastic properties were evaluated. A constitutive model was developed based on the test results. The model was validated by that the model can accurately predict the tensile load-strain-time behaviour of the geogrids when subjected to arbitrary loading histories. The time histories of tensile force in the geogrids in the wall estimated from the measured tensile strains based on the model indicate that, even in the most severe case among those analysed, the tensile force will increase with time to a very limited extent, towards a value significantly lower than the tensile rupture strength at the end of life time. This result indicates that eventual creep rupture of the geogrids in the wall is not likely unless significant degradation takes place.