Simulating the Behavior of GRS Bridge Abutments
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 10
Abstract
Geosynthetic-reinforced soil (GRS) bridge-supporting abutments are similar in principle to GRS retaining walls, except that GRS abutments are typically subjected to a much higher area load, and that the loads are close to the wall face. The GRS abutment technology is relatively new, but it has great potential, and it has been gaining some popularity in recent years. This paper describes the finite element analyses of two full-scale loading tests of GRS bridge abutments referred to as the “National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) experiment.” The analysis was carried out using the computer program Dyna3d, developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The finite element analysis of the NCHRP experiment will help with the understanding of the complex behavior of GRS structures in general, and the behavior of GRS bridge abutments with modular block facing in particular. The analysis of the two full-scale loading tests allows the loading conditions that are of greatest concern in the design of the bridge abutments to be examined rationally. The analysis shows that the performance of a GRS abutment, resulting from the complex interaction among the various components, while subject to a service load or a limiting failure load can be simulated in a reasonably accurate manner. In addition, a parametric study was conducted to investigate the performance of the modular block facing GRS bridge abutments subjected to live and dead loads from a bridge superstructure. This study investigated the performance of the GRS bridge abutments as they are affected by backfill properties, reinforcement stiffness properties, and reinforcement vertical spacing.
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Acknowledgments
This study is part of Study 12-59, a National Cooperative Highway Research Project (NCHRP), National Academy of Science, to develop guidelines for, design and construction of flexible facing GRS bridge-supporting structures. The writers wish to acknowledge the financial support of NCHRP on this study.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 10 • October 2007
Pages: 1229 - 1240
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 21, 2005
Accepted: Apr 27, 2007
Published online: Oct 1, 2007
Published in print: Oct 2007
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