Behavior of Anchor Plates in Reinforced Soft Clay Subjected to Cyclic Loading
摘要
Plate anchors offer stability to structures that are susceptible to uplift disturbances caused by wind and wave. Increases in anchor size, placement depth, and number of anchors have traditionally been used to enhance plate anchor capacity. However, in practical conditions, the above techniques are time-consuming and not cost-effective. The use of geosynthetic reinforcement provides an economical alternative to enhance the plate anchor capacity without changing anchor size or depth of embedment. Most of the past studies were performed on anchors embedded in cohesionless soil under static loading condition. The anchor response in saturated cohesive soils is limited especially under cyclic loading is relatively lesser. Through experimental examination and numerical simulations, the current study seeks to examine the response of plate anchors embedded in reinforced soil subjected to cyclic loads. The influence of various parameters like size of anchor, depth of embedment, frequency, and amplitude of loading cycles has been investigated. Square plate anchors of different sizes were fabricated and embedded at desired location for experimental testing. The geotextile sheet was placed in a single layer at the desired location above the anchors to reinforce the clay. The position of geotextile was fixed, as 0.25 times depth of anchor placement, above the plate anchor. The horizontal extent of the geotextile sheet was kept equal to 3 times the width of the plate. The anchor plate was subjected to sinusoidal cyclic loading and the corresponding cyclic response of anchor was recorded. Finite element analysis has been performed to investigate the effect of loading amplitude and frequency on cyclic behavior of plate anchors in soft clay. In the present investigation, it was found that the maximum cyclic pullout resistance is observed in the first cycle of cyclic loading, and provision of soil reinforcement (in the form of geotextile layer) enhances the performance of plate anchors subjected to pullout loads.