Experimental Evaluation of the Performance of Single and Multiplate Anchors for Retaining Walls

Abstract

Nowadays, plate anchors have many applications in onshore and offshore projects. These plates can be used vertically or horizontally in their application. For the stabilization of retaining walls, vertical plate anchors are used, and some research on the performance of single plate anchors has been carried out. However, few studies have considered the effect of using multiplate anchors for mechanically stabilized earth walls, and therefore more research is required in this area. In the present study, the effects of the number of plate anchors, the inclination angle of plate anchors, the distances between plate anchors, and the change in the ratio of loading heel distance (d) to wall height (H) under constant strain loading was determined experimentally. To capture the type and location of the critical slip surface occurring in the wall and the effects of variables on the shape of a failure wedge, the particle image velocimetry (PIV) method was used. According to the results, the triple plate anchors indicated the lowest horizontal displacement and the highest bearing capacity compared with single and double plate anchors. By increasing the inclination angle of the plate anchors from 0° to 60°, the horizontal displacement increased, and alternatively, the bearing capacity decreased. By reducing the ratio of d/H from 0.4 to 0.2, the horizontal displacement of the wall increased and the bearing capacity decreased. Moreover, the PIV results showed that by increasing the inclination angle of the plate anchors, reducing the distance between the plates, and decreasing the ratio of d/H, the width of the critical slip surface and movement of soil particles increased.