Finite element and pullout test performance of welded wire mats

This paper reports on the pullout test performance of welded-wire reinforcing mats. A 126-foot high mechanically stabilized earth wall was constructed at Kennecott Utah Copper. In the lower half of the wall, single lengths of 50-foot long welded-wire mats were used. In the top half of the wall, two lengths of 50-foot mats were overlapped 10 feet to create 90-foot mats. This 10-foot "lap zone" was investigated in this study.; The finite element program Plaxis was used to investigate several pullout test parameters: overburden pressure, gap width, boundary effects, and horizontal spacing of transverse elements from the pullout box face.; Physical pullout tests were performed in a scale pullout box to compare test configurations with single and multiple layers of mats, and test configurations with single and multiple lap zones. Finally, a Plaxis model of the scale pullout box was created to compare the finite element and pullout test results.