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Visualization of pullout behaviour of geogrid in sand with emphasis on size effect of protrusive junctions

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Abstract

Geogrid has been extensively used in geotechnical engineering practice due to its effectiveness and economy. Deep insight into the interaction between the backfill soil and the geogrid is of great importance for proper design and construction of geogrid reinforced earth structures. Based on the calibrated model of sand and geogrid, a series of numerical pullout tests are conducted using PFC3D under special considerations of particle angularity and aperture geometry of the geogrid. In this work, interface characteristics regarding the displacement and contact force developed among particles and the deformation and force distribution along the geogrid are all visualized with PFC3D simulations so that new understanding on how geogrid-soil interaction develops under pullout loads can be obtained. Meanwhile, a new variable named fabric anisotropy coefficient is introduced to evaluate the inherent relationship between macroscopic strength and microscopic fabric anisotropy. A correlation analysis is adopted to compare the accuracy between the newly-proposed coefficient and the most commonly used one. Furthermore, additional pullout tests on geogrid with four different joint protrusion heights have been conducted to investigate what extent and how vertical reinforcement elements may result in reinforcement effects from perspectives of bearing resistance contribution, energy dissipation, as well as volumetric response. Numerical results show that both the magnitude and the directional variation of normal contact forces govern the development of macroscopic strength and the reinforcing effects of joint protrusion height can be attributed to the accelerated energy dissipation across the particle assembly and the intensive mobilization of the geogrid.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Chen-xi Miao  (苗晨曦), Jun-jie Zheng  (郑俊杰), Rong-jun Zhang  (章荣军) & Ming-xing Xie  (谢明星)

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

    Jian-hua Yin  (殷建华)

Authors
  1. Chen-xi Miao  (苗晨曦)
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  2. Jun-jie Zheng  (郑俊杰)
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  3. Rong-jun Zhang  (章荣军)
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  4. Ming-xing Xie  (谢明星)
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  5. Jian-hua Yin  (殷建华)
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Correspondence to Jun-jie Zheng  (郑俊杰).

Additional information

Foundation item: Projects(51278216, 51478201) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China

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Miao, Cx., Zheng, Jj., Zhang, Rj. et al. Visualization of pullout behaviour of geogrid in sand with emphasis on size effect of protrusive junctions. J. Cent. South Univ. 24, 2121–2133 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-017-3621-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-017-3621-7

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