Abstract
The design of reinforced soil structures has conventionally relied on limit equilibrium theory and simplified assumptions when approaching the design of generic structures. To comprehensively assess the intricate factors affecting the behavior of reinforced soil structures, including reinforcement type and spacing, face element characteristics, and infill soil properties, monitoring real-world retaining structures or laboratory-built physical models becomes imperative. This study endeavors to address these complexities by developing an instrumented model of a geogrid-reinforced sandy soil structure featuring a concrete block facing. The model was subjected to incremental overloads of up to 55 kN/m2, with strain gauges meticulously tracking deformations and the ensuing tensile stresses evolving within the reinforcement layers. The attained results were juxtaposed against predictions generated through the AASHTO and Simplified Rigidity methodologies. The findings illuminated that the prognostication of efforts via monitoring exhibited a lesser degree of conservatism in comparison to the AASHTO method while displaying a more conservative tendency compared to the Simplified Rigidity approach. The divergence among force predictions from the three methods displayed a diminishing trend as the applied overload increased.
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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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MMVD: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, data curation, writing—original draft. OdMN: data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing. LCdFLL: conceptualization, supervision, project administration. JDP: conceptualization, supervision, project administration. JKGR: conceptualization, supervision, project administration.
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Dantas, M.M.V., de Medeiros Melo Neto, O., de Figueiredo Lopes Lucena, L.C. et al. Instrumentation of a physical model of soil structure reinforced with geogrid. Arab J Geosci 16, 614 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-023-11724-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-023-11724-3