Failure and Deformation Mechanisms of Vertical Plate Anchors Subjected to Lateral Loading in Sand
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 20, Issue 11
Abstract
This paper presents an experimental study on the pullout behavior of a vertical plate anchor buried in sand under lateral loading, using the digital image correlation (DIC) technique. Based on image analysis, the influences of anchor embedment ratio, sand relative density, and sand–plate interface friction on the failure and deformation mechanisms were discussed. With lateral displacements, the plate anchor experienced passive soil pressure in the front and active soil pressure from the behind. It is observed that the passive failure surfaces varied from approximately linear to be curved and finally became locally rotational with increasing embedment ratios, which indicated that the failure mode transitioned from general shear to be local shear gradually. The failure process is progressive in nature, and the critical embedment ratio is sand-state dependent. With an increasing relative density of sand, the front passive failure zone became larger, whereas the scope of the active failure zone reduced. A wider range of soil may be mobilized by plate anchors of a greater interface frictional strength, leading to enhanced anchor capacity, and this effect decreased with increasing anchor embedment ratios and vanished for deep anchors. The test findings can provide useful visualized data for the development and verification of relevant theoretical models.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41372300), the “Taishan” Youth Scholar Program of Shandong Province, China (No. tsqn201909016), and the “Qilu” Scholar Program of Shandong University, under which the reported work was carried out. We thank Dr. Pin-Qiang Mo for the useful discussion on the GeoPIV technique and Mr. Weichuan Li and Mr. Zhenyu Yang for their assistance in performing the tests.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- Cc
- coefficient of curvature;
- Cu
- uniformity coefficient;
- Dr
- relative density;
- d50
- median size of sand;
- H
- vertical distance from the soil surface to the bottom edge of the plate anchor;
- h
- height of the plate anchor;
- L
- width of the plate;
- Nγq
- nondimensional anchor break-out factor;
- P
- net pullout capacity;
- Pu
- ultimate pullout capacity;
- Rmax
- maximum groove depth of plate anchor;
- γ
- unit weight of the soil;
- δ
- anchor horizontal displacement;
- δp
- anchor horizontal displacement at peak resistance;
- φ
- internal friction angle of sand;
- φin
- sand-anchor interface friction angle; and
- φm
- mobilized friction angle of sand.
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International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 20 • Issue 11 • November 2020
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© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 28, 2020
Accepted: Jul 21, 2020
Published online: Sep 10, 2020
Published in print: Nov 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Feb 10, 2021
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