Experimental and Numerical Evaluation of Pullout Resistance of a Polymeric Strap

A true understanding of interaction between soil and reinforcements is of great help in safe designing of mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls. In this paper, in order to study the interaction between the soil and Polymeric Strap (PS), large-scale laboratory pullout tests were carried out on the straps buried in the dry compacted granular soil under different overburden pressures varying from 20 kPa to 160 kPa. The results confirmed that the friction angle between the soil and PS decreases with increasing overburden pressure. Finally, a 3D finite element modeling was carried out for comparison with the experimental approach. The results of this modeling showed a good agreement with the experimental data.