ABSTRACT

In order to evaluate stability of a reinforced retaining wall, it is required to know the relations between displacements of a wall, tensile forces of reinforcements, earth pressures against the wall, frictional forces on reinforcements and so on. In this study these relations were observed in the series of centrifuge model tests taking into account strain levels of the backfill soils. And then the centrifuge model tests were simulated by two-dimensional FEM analysis considering the discontinuity between reinforcement/soil and facing/soil. From these studies and results of field tests, we defined the allowable wall displacement for design of reinforced retaining walls. Furthermore, Two dimensional elasto-plastic FEM analysis for the prototype retaining wall with stiff reinforcement were carried out to determine the optimum amount of the reinforcement considering the allowable wall displacements.