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Limit Equilibrium Analysis and Design of Geosynthetic-Reinforced Fill Walls Under Special Conditions

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Abstract

Geosynthetics have been successfully used to reinforce fill for walls for different applications. Under certain circumstances, these walls may be designed and constructed under special conditions, for example, tiered walls, back-to-back walls, limited space fill walls and fill walls with secondary reinforcement. Most design methods available in design standards or manuals based on lateral earth pressure theories cannot or must be modified to approximately handle such special conditions. Limit equilibrium methods have been commonly used to analyse and design slopes including reinforced slopes and can be used to analyse and design geosynthetic-reinforced fill walls under these special conditions. This paper describes progressive failure from fill walls to fill slopes, presents the evidences of fill walls and slopes having similar failure modes and justifies the use of the limit equilibrium approach to analyse and design geosynthetic-reinforced fill walls under special conditions. This paper also presents a top-down limit equilibrium design procedure and demonstrates the advantages of using this procedure for designing geosynthetic-reinforced fill walls under special conditions.

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  1. Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, Glenn L. Parker Professor of Geotechnical Engineering, the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Jie Han

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  1. Jie Han
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Han, J. Limit Equilibrium Analysis and Design of Geosynthetic-Reinforced Fill Walls Under Special Conditions. Indian Geotech J 51, 50–62 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-020-00483-7

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