Mechanical Behavior of the Reinforced Retaining Wall under Vehicle Load

This study primarily aims to explore the mechanical behavior and influence factors of the reinforced retaining wall subject to vehicle loads. Mohr–Coulomb model was adopted to simulate and analyze the structural characteristics of the reinforced retaining wall by the finite element method. Its mechanical behavior was investigated in accordance with relevant theories. The results showed that the vertical and horizontal maximum displacement of the reinforced retaining wall occurs at the wall surface of the retaining wall, the maximum internal soil pressure appears at the middle and lower part of the retaining wall, and the maximum tensile strain of the tension bar acts on the wall rupture surface. As impacted by static vehicle load, the largest settlement is located at the parking position, and the maximum horizontal displacement and wall stability will vary with the vehicle position. Moreover, the closer the vehicle to the reinforcement is, the greater the lateral Earth pressure will be imposed on the upper part of the reinforcement body. With the variation of the vehicle position, the tension stress of the geogrid will vary noticeably.

Performance of Back-to-Back Geogrid Reinforced Soil Retaining Walls for Railways during Service

To investigate the performance of a reinforced soil retaining wall during service for a passenger-dedicated railway, long-term remote observation testing of the back-to-back geogrid reinforced retaining wall (BBGRSW) of Qing-Rong passenger-dedicated railway in Shandong Province was conducted for 60 months. The performance of the reinforced retaining wall was investigated after construction, and the lateral earth pressure of the reinforced soil wall was analyzed. The vertical stress on the wall and tension on the geogrid were measured using pressure cells and flexible deformation gauges, thereby resulting in the distribution of data and changes in the service period. The test results show that the pressure and deformation of the wall are almost stable. It was determined that the lateral earth pressure on the back of the wall panel was approximately 119.2% of the completion time during the 60 months after construction. The vertical stress on the reinforced soil retaining wall remained approximately stable 60 months post-construction. The maximum strain of the measured geogrids accounted for less than 30% of the peak strain. Moreover, the deformation of the wall was relatively small, which indicated that both sides of the wall remained in good condition. These research results can serve as a reference for the design optimization of reinforced soil retaining walls for high-speed railways.

Deformation of the Geocell Flexible Reinforced Retaining Wall under Earthquake

As a new type of reinforced material, geocells are widely used in flexible reinforced retaining wall projects, and a lot of practical experience shows that the geocell retaining wall has a great effect on earthquake resistance, but theoretical research lags behind engineering practice, and the deformation and failure mechanism under earthquake need to be further studied. In this paper, we use the FLAC3D nonlinear, finite-difference method to study the failure mechanism of geocell-reinforced retaining walls under earthquake, to analyze the advantages of the geocell retaining wall in controlling deformation compared with the unreinforced retaining wall and geogrid-reinforced retaining wall, and we try to study the deformation of the reinforced wall by changing the length of the geocell and reinforcement spacing of the geocell. Research indicates the horizontal displacement of the wall edge of the reinforced retaining wall under the earthquake is slightly smaller than that of the center of the wall and the back of the wall. The geocell can effectively reduce the horizontal displacement of the retaining wall, and the effect is better than the geogrid. Increasing the length of the geocell and reducing the spacing of the geocell can effectively reduce the horizontal displacement of the retaining wall, and the effect of displacement controlling at the top of the wall is better than in other positions.

Mechanical Behavior of the Reinforced Retaining Wall Subjected to Static Load

To study the mechanical behavior and influence factors of the reinforced retaining wall under the static load, numerical simulation of the reinforced retaining wall is conducted by finite element analysis, and its mechanical behavior and influencing methods are studied in accordance with relevant theories. The results showed that the properties of back fill, reinforced spacing, reinforced stiffness, reinforced length, and panel stiffness all affect the mechanical behavior of retaining walls. According to the example calculations of different wall heights, the distribution of panel horizontal displacement and maximum tensile stress are analyzed. The gravel with good gradation has better durability and can reduce the amount of reinforcing steel; with the decrease of the reinforcement spacing, the deformation of the wall panel will become smaller, and the reinforcement effect will be improved; the length of reinforcement is not the longer the better, and the deformation of wall panel can be minimized at the suitable length; the larger the elastic modulus of the wall panel, the smaller the deformation of the wall panel will be.