Experimental and numerical investigation of the uplift capacity of plate anchors in geocell-reinforced sand

Abstract

Plate anchors are frequently used to provide resistance against uplift forces. This paper describes the reinforcing effects of a geocell-reinforced soil layer on uplift behaviour of anchor plates. The uplift tests were conducted in a test pit at near full-scale on anchor plates with widths between 150 and 300 mm with embedment depths of 1.5 to 3 times the anchor width for both unreinforced and geocell-reinforced backfill. A single geocell layer with pocket size 110 mm×110 mm and height 100 mm, fabricated from non-perforated and nonwoven geotextile, was used. The results show that the peak and residual uplift capacities of anchor models were highest when the geocell layer over the anchor was used, but with increasing anchor size and embedment depth, the benefit of the geocell reinforcement deceases. Peak loads between 130% and 155% of unreinforced conditions were observed when geocell reinforcement was present. Residual loading increased from 75% to 225% that of the unreinforced scenario. The reinforced anchor system could undergo larger upward displacements before peak loading occurred. These improvements may be attributed to the geocell reinforcement distributing stress to a wider area than the unreinforced case during uplift. The breakout factor increases with embedment depth and decreased with increasing anchor width for both unreinforced and reinforced conditions, the latter yielding larger breakout factors. Calibrated numerical modelling demonstrated favorable agreement with experimental observations, providing insight into detailed behavior of the system. For example, surface heave decreased by over 80% when geocell was present because of a much more efficient stress distribution imparted by the presence of the geocell layer.

Study on Design and Deformation Law of Pile-Anchor Support System in Deep Foundation Pit

“…The literature [50][51][52][53] studied the deformation and stress changes of the supporting structure, caused by the failure of the pile-anchor in a deep foundation pit, by the finite difference method and put forward that the failure of the local anchor had a great influence on the stability of the foundation pit. The literature [54][55][56][57] used the finite difference principle to study the frost heaving force on the foundation pit pile-anchor support system and discussed the stress change and deformation law of foundation pit pile-anchor support under low-temperature conditions. The literature [58,59] optimized the supporting structure of the pile-anchor foundation pit, considering the corner effect.…”

Displacement field around an uplifting innovated plate anchor

“…Pullout capacity of anchors (P), define as maximum pullout load carried by anchor, depends on various factors, such as type, shape, size, depth and inclination of the anchor, embedment depth and subsoil condition. Therefore, the required pullout capacity of plate anchor systems can be enhanced by increasing the size and embedment depth of the anchor or improving backfill strength and density (Ganesh and Sahoo, 2016;Kumar and Bhoi, 2009;Liu et al, 2011;Rahimi, et al, 2018).…”

Finite‐Element Analysis of Keying Process of Plate Anchors in Three‐Layer Soft‐Stiff‐Soft Clay Deposits

“…In addition, Singh and Ramaswamy [29,30] performed model test of plate anchors under cyclic loadings and investigated the effects of the dynamic loading level, the frequency of cyclic loading, and the preloading level on the embedment depth loss. Rahimi et al [31] performed a series of near-full-scale experiments and numerical models on plate anchors embedded in sand with and without geocell reinforcement, and the influence of geocell reinforcement on the uplift capacity of plate anchors was examined.…”