Temperature Distribution in Mechanically Stabilized Earth Wall Soil Backfills for Design Under Elevated Temperature Conditions

Abstract

Twodimensional (2D) transient numerical thermal modeling was undertaken using ansys fluent v12.1 software to estimate distribution of soil backfill temperatures in a typical mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall. The modeling was calibrated using fieldmeasured temperature data from the TanqueVerde MSE wall in Tucson, Arizona (AZ) in which computed temperature data were found to be within آ±5% of the field data. The calibrated model predictions for Las Vegas, Nevada (NV) showed an overall average soil backfill temperature of 34.3 آ°C relative to a maximum outside surface temperature of 51.6 آ°C. Such a high average soil backfill temperature calls for modification of design procedures since conventional designs are based on geosynthetic tensile strength determined at 20 آ°C.