ABSTRACT

Reinforced soil retaining wall is a typical infrastructure that secures structural stability from the earth pressure of background as well as economic efficiency by a simple construction method. Researchers and engineers have reported damage cases due to stress concentration to the convex, known as the weakness of reinforced soil retaining wall hitherto. Various reinforcing construction methods such as applying reinforcing materials in layers are used. However, studies on the failure mechanism from stress concentration at the curved part of the reinforced soil retaining wall are scarce.

In this study, the curved part of the reinforced soil retaining wall is modelled using three-dimensional numerical analysis and the behaviour of the retaining wall according to the angle is analysed.

Three angles are considered, i.e. 45, 90, 135°, and the influence of overburden load are compared in each case. The authors quantitatively analysed and compared the horizontal displacement and the settlement between a curved and straight portion of the backfill surface of the wall.

INTRODUCTION

Demand for social infrastructure facilities such as tunnels, roads, railways, and retaining walls is increasing owing to the population increase in urban areas, and several problems associated with it are increasing as well. A retaining wall is a structure that is closely related to our living space. These retaining walls are applied widely not only to industrial estates, but also to residential estates; further, they are closely related to real life and are becoming more important for safety. A reinforced soil retaining wall is subdivided into two parts: straight and curved. Reinforced soil retaining walls do not require foundation concrete placements such as general reinforce concrete retaining walls, and are constructed during the laying of embankment material, determination, reinforcement placement, and installation of front wall. Securing the stability of the wall without any construction equipment is not difficult. In addition, because the construction period and cost are reduced compared to those of the RC retaining wall by the simple construction method, and the structure resists by the friction between the reinforcement material and soil, it is not subjected to wall height constraints (Kim, 2005). Owing to these advantages, the use of reinforced soil retaining walls tends to increase; however, its damage cases increase simultaneously. The issues indicated as typical problems of reinforced soil retaining walls are foundation settlement due to the lack of bearing capacity, excessive water pressure generation due to poor drainage for backfill, excessive horizontal displacement of the wall caused by construction and design errors, cracks in the front wall block, and slide failure (Yoo, 2002) (Fig. 1).

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