Physical and analytical modelization of extensible reinforcements - Development of a new framework

Metallic strips or non-corrodible synthetic straps are set up in Reinforced Earth Walls. In current design, same models are used to model these two types of strips. Nevertheless, synthetic reinforcements have a more complex behavior due to their extensibility. Abdelouhab, Dias, and Freitag (2009) [Abdelouhab, A., Dias, D., & Freitag, N. (2009). Physical and analytical modelling of geosynthetic strip pull-out behaviour. Geotextiles and Geomembranes, 28(1), 44-53] have presented pullout tests of synthetic reinforcements embedded in Hostun sand. Then, they have modeled these tests with realistic analytical models. These two approaches, experimental and analytical, are developed in this article. The comparison of geosynthetic reinforcement behavior in two soil types (sand and coarse soil) is studied. A new geosynthetic reinforcement is also presented. Analytical modeling was performed on this experimental database. The parameters for the analytical models have been generalized for the two soil types. © 2012 Taylor & Francis.