Vertical Uplift Capacity of Strip Plate Anchors Embedded Horizontally Adjacent to Cohesive-Frictional Soil Slopes

Abstract

The vertical uplift capacity of strip plate anchors buried in cohesive-frictional soil adjacent to a crest of slopes has been computed by using finite-element lower-bound limit analysis with a second-order conic optimization technique. The uplift capacity is expressed in terms of dimensionless uplift factors Fγ and Fc from the contribution of soil self-weight and soil cohesion, respectively. The influence of the anchor edge distance from the crest of slope (e), internal friction angle of the soil (ϕ), slope angle (β), slope height (h), and embedment ratio of the anchors (d/b; d = embedded depth of anchor, and b = width of anchor) on the uplift capacity have been examined. The magnitudes of uplift factors were found to decrease continuously with an increase in the angle and height of the slope, whereas they increased with increasing soil friction angle, anchor edge distance from the crest, and the embedment ratio of the anchors. The critical edge distance of the anchor, beyond which the uplift factors remained almost constant with further increase in the edge distance, was been found to increase with the increase in ϕ, β, and d/b, and a negligible variation was observed for a change in the height of the slope.