Numerical analysis of GEOMAT reinforced vertical earth embankments using plaxis software

Abstract

The design procedure of reinforced earth retaining structures considers the safety against tensile failure and pull out failure as the internal stability criteria. However, evaluation of the lateral deformation also needs to be considered as an important criterion to satisfy serviceability limit states. It is imperative that the designer limits the lateral deformation of reinforced earth walls under service loads. In a reported number of previous studies, extensive laboratory experiments have been carried out to investigate the lateral deformation characteristic of embankments reinforced with coir mats. For this purpose, ordinary coir mats and those coated with polyethylene to improve their durability under acidic and alkaline environments have been used. The above studies, also investigated the effect of wetting on the lateral deformation as well. In this study, numerical analyses of the above laboratory experiments are carried out using Plaxis 2D software to determine lateral deformation characteristics and the results are compared with the experimental results. The analyses was carried for uncoated and coated geomats used to reinforce a vertical embankment prepared to 95% of maximum dry density and that subjected to soaked conditions which simulates exposure to rainy weather. The results show that the variations of lateral deformation obtained from the numerical analyses under various conditions are similar to those observed in the experimental studies. However, quantitatively, the lateral deformation obtained from the numerical analyses show less value in magnitude than those observed in the experimental work.