Monitoring Results of an Instrumented, Mechanically Stabilized Earth Wall: Comparison with Current Practice

Author(s):  
Robert Y. Liang ◽  
Izzaldin M. Almoh
Author(s):  
Andrew M. Kasozi ◽  
Raj V. Siddharthan ◽  
Rajib Mahamud

Two-dimensional (2D) transient numerical thermal modeling was undertaken using ansys fluent v12.1 software to estimate distribution of soil backfill temperatures in a typical mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall. The modeling was calibrated using field-measured temperature data from the Tanque-Verde MSE wall in Tucson, Arizona (AZ) in which computed temperature data were found to be within ±5% of the field data. The calibrated model predictions for Las Vegas, Nevada (NV) showed an overall average soil backfill temperature of 34.3 °C relative to a maximum outside surface temperature of 51.6 °C. Such a high average soil backfill temperature calls for modification of design procedures since conventional designs are based on geosynthetic tensile strength determined at 20 °C.


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