Influence of longitudinal and transverse members on geogrid pullout behavior during deformation

A series of pullout tests were carried out by using a highly extensible geogrid with the different longitudinal member and transverse member ratios to investigate the influence of the longitudinal and transverse members of a highly extensible geogrid on the pullout behavior. From the results, the following were made clear: the mobilization of bond stress depends on the strain of the geogrid; the influence zones of longitudinal members become isolated with the increase of the longitudinal member spacing; the mobilization of transverse member resistance depends on the displacement of the geogrid at the location of that transverse member; and the contribution of longitudinal members to the pullout force is more significant than that of transverse members during the deformation stage in the case of the highly extensible geogrid, since large elongation occurs in thc geogrid, which restricts the mobilization of the full effect of transverse members. Furthermore, the mobilization mechanisms of the longitudinal member and transverse member effects are discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.