Evaluating Ground Reaction Curves from Single to Multiple Trapdoor Tests
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 150, Issue 7
Abstract
Ground reaction curves (GRCs) are increasingly used to simulate the progressive development of soil arching resulting from differential movement in soil. In this study, 20 single, double, and multiple trapdoor tests were conducted under a simultaneous displacement mode (i.e., trapdoors settle simultaneously), while 8 double trapdoor tests were carried out under a successive displacement mode (i.e., trapdoors settle successively) to examine the evolution of soil arching including the parameters related to the GRCs. This study identified and analyzed the key parameters of the GRCs. For the trapdoor tests conducted under the simultaneous displacement mode, an increase of the fill height led to a decrease in the minimum pressure and its corresponding trapdoor displacement. Furthermore, the ultimate normalized pressure and recovery rate exhibited a decreasing trend with an increase of the fill height. As compared to the single and double trapdoor tests, the multiple trapdoor tests had similar initial soil arching, minimum normalized pressure, and its corresponding trapdoor displacement but a relatively lower stress recovery rate. In the trapdoor tests conducted with the successive displacement mode, the pressure on the first settled trapdoor decreased while it increased on the later settled trapdoor during the settlement of the first settled trapdoor. Conversely, during the settlement of the later settled trapdoor, the pressure on the first settled trapdoor increased, while it decreased on the later settled trapdoor. Analyzing the GRCs on the later settled trapdoor under the successive displacement mode revealed that the initial slope and ultimate pressure of the GRC decreased as the fill height increased.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42272315). Their support is greatly appreciated.
Author contributions: Rui Rui: Funding acquisition, Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing–review and editing, Supervision. Rui-heng Ding: Conceptualization, Writing original draft, Data curation. Jie Han: Conceptualization, Writing–review and editing, Supervision. Yu-qiu Ye: Funding acquisition, Conceptualization, Writing–review and editing, Supervision. Shi-Kai He: Model experiment. Mohamed Elabd: Formal analysis.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 150 • Issue 7 • July 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 2, 2023
Accepted: Feb 23, 2024
Published online: May 13, 2024
Published in print: Jul 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Oct 13, 2024
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