Cyclic and post-cycling anchor response in geocell-reinforced sand

Plate anchors are commonly used to resist static, cyclic, and monotonic post-cyclic uplift loads. Under cyclic loading, progressive sudden failure may occur, characterized by accumulated displacement — even under loads significantly less than the static capacity. Despite extensive usage of geocell materials for increasing cyclic resilience, the influence of geocell reinforcements on cyclic uplift capacity is not well understood. In this study, a series of near-full-scale experimental tests, with and without geocell, are presented. Results show that the unreinforced system fails cyclically under a load that is almost 70% of its ultimate uplift capacity (Pu), but use of geocell enables stable cyclic resistance of over 100% Pu. For the given soil and configurations, a cyclic displacement rate that reaches less than 0.05 mm/cycle tends to highlight a likely stable response. Evaluation of the soil’s response to cyclic loading demonstrates that, with increasing loading cycles, the loading is increasingly transmitted through the soil close to the anchor in the unreinforced case, but that the reinforced case is less prone to this phenomenon. The monotonic post-cycling capacity of both reinforced and unreinforced anchors decreases after application of cyclic loading; however, the unreinforced scenario demonstrates larger decreases in capacity, particularly in the residual capacity.