Case History of Geosynthetic Reinforced Segmental Retaining Wall Failure
This article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYThis article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYThis article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 12
Abstract
A geosynthetic reinforced segmental retaining wall was collapsed during a monsoon season in Korea, three months after the completion of wall construction. The circular type global slope failure was the dominant failure mode. The as-built design was examined for its appropriateness in meeting the current design requirements and the global slope stability. A comprehensive stress-pore pressure-coupled finite-element analysis was additionally conducted with due consideration of both positive and negative pore pressures in saturated and unsaturated zones. A number of relevant tests were also carried out on the backfill and the reinforcement collected from the site. The investigation revealed among other things that the inappropriate design and the low-quality backfill were mainly responsible for the wall failure, although the primary triggering factor was the rainfall infiltration. The results of the stress-pore pressure-coupled finite-element analysis provided sound evidences as to the wall performance over the rainfall period, supporting the field observation. Practical implications of the findings from this study are also discussed in view of reinforced wall design.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Grant No. R01-2004-000-10953-0 from the Basic Research Program of the Korea Science & Engineering Foundation. The financial support is gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks to former students Mr. Hyuck-Sang Chung, Sung-Woo Lee, and Bong-Won Lee for conducting the field investigation.
References
ABAQUS Inc. (2003). ABAQUS users’ manual, version 6.3., Hibbitt, Karlsson, and Sorensen Inc., Providence, R.I.
ASTM. (1992a). “Standard test method for classification of soils for engineering purposes.” West Conshohocken, Pa., 326–336.
ASTM. (1992b). “Test method for laboratory compaction characteristics of soil using standard effort [ ].” West Conshohocken, Pa., 166–173.
Arya, L. M., and Paris, J. F. (1981). “A physicoemprical model to predict the soil moisture characteristic from particle-size distribution and bulk density data.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 45, 1023–1030.
Bathurst, R. J. (2001). Design software for segmental retaining walls: SRwall ver. 3.2, National Concrete Masonry Association, Herndon, Va.
Bathurst, R. J., Allen, T., and Walters, D. (2004). “Reinforcement loads in geosynthetics walls and the case for a new working stress design method.” Proc., 3rd Asian Regional Conf. on Geosynthetics, S. Shim, C. Yoo, and H. Y. Heon, eds., Seoul, Korea, 3–25.
Bishop, A. W. (1959). “The principle of effective stress.” Publication 32, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo, Norway, 1–4.
Blake, J. R., Renaud, J.-P., Anderson, M. G., and Hencher, S. R. (2003). “Prediction of rainfall-induced transient water pressure head behind a retaining wall using a high-resolution finite element model.” Comput. Geotech., 30(6), 431–442.
Collin, J. (1997). Design manual for segmental retaining walls, 2nd Ed., National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA), Herndon, Va.
Davis, E. H. (1968). “Theories of plasticity and the failure of soil masses.” Soil mechanics: Selected topics, Butterworth’s, London, 341–380.
Elias, V., and Christopher, B. R. (1997). “Mechanically stabilized earth walls and reinforced soil slopes, design, and construction guidelines.” FHwA Demonstration Project 82, FHwA, Washington, D.C.
Fredlund, D. G., Morgenstern, N. R., and Widger, A. (1978). “Shear strength of unsaturated soils.” Can. Geotech. J., 15(3), 313–321.
Fredlund, D. G., Xing, A., and Juang, S. (1994). “Predicting the permeability functions for unsaturated soils using the soil-water characteristic curve.” Can. Geotech. J., 31(4), 533–546.
Gan, J. K. M., and Fredlund, D. G. (1988). “Determination of the shear strength parameters of an unsaturated soil using the direct shear test.” Can. Geotech. J., 25(3), 500–510.
GeoStudio. (2004). User’s guide for SEEP/W and SLOPE/W, version 6.0, Geo-Slope International, Calgary, Canada.
GRI test method. (1988). “GG-1: Single rib geogrid tensile strength.” Geosynthetic Research Institute, Drexel Univ., Philadelphia.
Koerner, R. M., and Soong, T. Y. (2001). “Geosynthetic reinforced segmental retaining walls.” Geotext. Geomembr., 19(6), 359–386.
Leshchinsky, D. (1999a). “Putting technology to work: MSEW and ReSlope for reinforced soil-structure design.” Geotechnical Fabrics Rep., 17(3), 34–39.
Leshchinsky, D. (1999b). “Stability of geosynthetic reinforced steep slopes.” Proc., Int. Symp. Slope Stability Engineering-IS-Shikoku’99, Slope Stability Engineering, N. Yagi, T. Yamagami, and J. C. Jiang, eds., Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 46–66.
Lu, N., and Likos, W. (2004). Unsaturated soil mechanics, Wiley, New York.
Oberg, A., and Sällfors, G. (1997). “Determination of shear strength parameters of unsaturated silts and sands based on the water retention curve.” Geotech. Test. J., 20(1), 40–48.
Pagano, L. (1997). “Steady state and transient unconfined seepage analyses for earthfill dams,” ABAQUS Users’ Conf., Hibbitt, Karlsson, and Sorensen Inc., Providence, R.I., 557–585.
Vanapalli, S. K., Fredlund, D. G., Pufahl, D. E., and Clifton, A. W. (1996). “Model for the prediction of shear strength with respect to soil suction.” Can. Geotech. J., 33(3), 379–392.
Yoo, C., Jung, H. S., and Jung, H. Y. (2004). “Lessons learned from a failure of geosynthetics-reinforced segmental retaining wall.” Proc., 3rd Asian Regional Conf. on Geosynthetics, S. Shim, C. Yoo, and H. Y. Heon, eds., CIIR, Seoul, Korea, 265–274.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 31, 2005
Accepted: May 26, 2006
Published online: Dec 1, 2006
Published in print: Dec 2006
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.