Design And Ultimate Loading Capacity Research Of Multip-Levels High Retaining Wall Reinforced With Geogrid

In the paper, firstly, the application and development of earth reinforcement technique is introduced, and recent research results are presented. The calculation theory and the design method of reinforced earth wall are analyzed. Secondly, high geogrid reinforced retaining walls are researched. High reinforced retaining walls are often built with many levels. According to design state of art of reinforced retaining walls, the top level of the wall can be designed with normal guideline. However the design and calculation method for the rest bottom levels is not yet sophisticated and need further study. According to some practical engineering, reasonable design method is choosed and high geogrid reinforced retaining wall is designed. In the paper performance of geogrid reinforced retaining walls with multiple levels is examined with FLAC. The spacing of reinforcement is double of the actual project. Surcharging is loaded at top of the wall. In terms of tensile stress of reinforcement and panel horizontal displacement, the affecting factors are studied to evaluate the performance of the retaining wall with numerical modeling. The conclusions could be drawn as follows: First, under traffic load,the results of numerical modeling are different from those calculated by normal design code. The maximum tensile stress of reinforcement appears near the panel facing and the tensile stress distributes in three different types. Second, when the vertical spacing of reinforcement is large, panel facing horizontal displacement would be the dominant to the ultimate load on the top of wall. Only reinforcement with higher stiffness can be used in this kind of wall. There should be an optimum length of reinforcement for each layer. With this optimum length, the panel horizontal displacement will be least. If the vertical spacing of reinforcement is equal to the most practical value, say below 0.5 meter, the tensile stress of reinforcement would be the dominant factor to the ultimate load. When constructing high reinforced retaining walls, we should reduce the vertical spacing of reinforcement for safety. The conclusions are of practical significances to the design of high reinforced retaining walls with multiple levels.