Stiffness-based approach of pullout resistance factors of reinforcements embedded in soil

Abstract

The design and construction of mechanically stabilised earth (MSE) walls is widespread and stiffness-based MSE wall designs are becoming popular. In MSE wall design, the pullout resistance of reinforcement plays a major role. For various field conditions, properties such as the normal stress and stiffness of reinforcement are hard to determine in the laboratory. In this study, a numerical model, developed using finite-element software, was used to assess pullout behaviour by varying other parameters such as normal stress, soil friction angle and, especially, the stiffness of reinforcements. Pullout resistance factors (F*) were developed based on the stiffness of the reinforcements considered in this study, which were in the range 100−10 000 kN/m for normal stresses of 10–300 kPa (equivalent to a maximum MSE wall height of 17 m). The developed design chart can be used for the optimistic design of MSE walls.