A finite element analysis of a cohesionless soil under the pullout loading of a plate anchor

Anchors are used in order to sustain structures subjected to considerable tensile forces such as suspension bridges, transmission towers, etc... An axisymmetric finite element analysis of the behaviour of plate anchors embedded in cohesionless soils is carried out. Shallow and deep circular anchors loaded by a vertical pullout force are considered. First, the behaviour of the soil was observed under such a loading using a Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion for the stress-strain relationship. The deformation of the soil mass and the expansion of the plastic zone are shown. Finally, the results are compared to those obtained by other authors on small scale models.