Uplift Behavior of Blade-Underreamed Anchors in Silty Sand

Abstract

To evaluate the uplift behavior of anchors installed by the blade underreaming system, a numerical model for anchors in silty sand has been developed in this study and the calculated results are compared to the results of full scale anchor pullout tests. Although the blade-underreamed anchor tends to be irregular in shape due to possible collapse of the borehole, the excavated anchor showed an underreamed body of approximately multiple-stepped shape. Despite the difference in shape, the numerical results indicate that the difference between the load–displacement curve of the multiple-stepped anchor and that of the conical shaped anchor is small. In addition, the anchorage behavior of conical shaped anchors calculated from this numerical model was in good agreement with those of full scale anchor tests. No sign of progressive soil yielding along the underreamed body was found from the numerical analysis. So, the pull-out capacity of this underreamed anchor increases more than linearly with the length of the underream. Since only a small underream angle is needed to generate a substantial increase in anchor pull-out resistance, the ultimate pull-out capacity of the blade-underreamed anchor is found to be higher than that of straight shaft anchor in silty sand.