Shear‐Lag Analysis of Planar Soil Reinforcement in Plane‐Strain Compression

Abstract

This paper describes an approximate analytical method for estimating the stresses in planar tensile reinforcements due to shearing of the surrounding soil mass. The proposed formulation adapts the techniques of shear‐lag analysis, commonly used in the mechanics of composites, and considers plane‐strain compression shearing of the soil mass with the inclusion oriented parallel to the minor, external, principal stress. The analyses assume that the soil and reinforcement behave as linear, isotropic, and elastic materials, linked through a frictional interface. Closed‐form solutions are presented for the axial reinforcement stress and interface tractions as functions of the material properties and inclusion geometry. Comparisons with numerical finite‐element calculations demonstrate the accuracy of the analytical solutions for a wide range of practical geometric and material properties. The proposed formulation provides a simple and direct method for estimating the stress distribution within reinforced soil masses at working load conditions.