Vertical anchors are widely used to support many structures. In this study, the load-displacement behaviour of a vertical anchor buried in dense sand is modeled numerically. The numerical analyses are performed using Abaqus/Explicit finite element (FE) software adopting two soil models:
the elastoplastic Mohr-Coulomb (MC) model and
a Modified Mohr-Coulomb (MMC) model.
In the MC model, the two required geotechnical parameters are the constant angles of internal friction (ϕ') and dilation (Ψ). However, in the MMC, pre-peak hardening, post-peak softening and the effects of mean effective stress and relative density on stress-strain behaviour of dense sand are considered. Comparison of FE results with physical model test results shows that the MMC model can simulate better the load-displacement response than the MC model. The mechanisms involved in soil deformation are also explained using FE results.
Plate anchors are widely used in many onshore and offshore engineering projects, such as transmission towers, utility poles, earth retaining and waterfront structures and mooring of offshore floating platforms. Anchors could be installed in a wide variety of soils at different inclinations, such as horizontal, vertical and inclined. The horizontal pullout capacity of a vertical plate anchor installed in dense sand is the focus of the present study.
A number of researchers studied the behaviour of vertical plate anchors through laboratory experiments, development of analytical methods and numerical analysis (Neely et al., 1973; Das and Seeley, 1975; Akinmusuru, 1978; Rowe and Davis, 1982; Dickin and Leung, 1983; Hoshiya and Mandal, 1984; Basudhar and Singh, 1994; Kumar and Sahoo, 2012; Kame et al., 2012; Bhattacharya and Kumar, 2013). A large number of the available studies on anchors are experimental. Most of the previous studies focused on the ultimate capacity of the anchor, which has been determined from the equilibrium condition of the soil mass above an assumed failure plane inferred from laboratory tests.
