Preliminary Assessment of Sidewall Friction on Large-Scale Wall Models in the RMC Test Facility

Abstract

The use of laboratory models to study the behaviour of soil retaining wall systems is common in the literature. Typically, experiments are performed in parallel-sided boxes of finite width with one of the perpendicular faces representing the model wall under study (e.g. Rowe, 1971). Indeed, the RMC test facility is a rather large example of this common laboratory approach. Unfortunetly, test facilities of this type can be expected to introduce some deviation in model response from the behaviour of the same system with infinite width due to sidewall friction. Strategies to reduce the influence of the apparatus edge effects include the use of friction reducing surfaces at the sidewalls and articulated model facings. Both approaches have been employed in the tests reported in the companion paper by Bathurst, Wawrychuk and Jarrett.