Pullout capacity of strip plate anchor in cohesive sloping ground under undrained condition

The pullout capacity of strip anchor plates embedded in clayey sloping ground under undrained condition has been studied by using lower bound limit analysis with finite elements. The analysis has been performed for different values of (i) slope angle (beta) varying from 0 degrees to 40 degrees with an interval of 5 degrees, (ii) embedment ratio (H/B) of the anchor plate varying from 3 to 7 where H is the embedment depth and B is the width of anchor plate and (iii) c/gamma H ranging from 0.25 to 8 in addition to the case with gamma = 0. Three different orientations (theta) of the anchor plate, say horizontal (i.e. theta = 0 degrees), parallel to the ground surface (i.e. theta = beta) and vertical (i.e. theta = 90 degrees), have been considered in the present study. For gamma = 0, the pullout capacity of both vertical and horizontal plate decreases with an increase in slope angle whereas the pullout capacity of anchor plate lying parallel to the sloping ground remains unchanged for all values of beta. It has been observed that the pullout capacity of the anchor plate decreases with an increase in slope angle of the ground surface for gamma not equal 0. The results are compared well with available results on pullout capacity of strip anchor plates with theta = 0 degrees and theta = 90 degrees. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.