An experimental investigation for pullout response of granular pile anchors embedded in clayey soil

An efficient and affordable foundation technique to combat pullout forces experienced by transmission towers or foundations in expansive soils is the granular pile-anchor foundation. In the present study, a series of pullout tests on GPAs embedded in clayey soil carried out in the laboratory in order to better understand how GPAs behaved in a clayey soil bed. The pullout tests were carried out in a steel tank measuring 1 m x 1 m x 1 m with the use of a loading frame system. The pullout capacity of the GPAs was determined to be the pullout load required for upward movement equivalent to 10% diameter of GPAs. The diameter was kept constant as 50 mm for all the pullout tests conducted. In the parametric analysis, the number of GPAs, length to diameter ratio, centre to centre spacing and number of anchor plates were taken into consideration. The non-dimensional pullout capacity was considered to further elaborate the results obtained in experimental investigation.