A study of the phenomenon of soil – reinforcement interaction

Abstract

The analysis and design of reinforced earth wall and retaining wall with reinforced backfill require the knowledge of the value of the coefficient of interfacial friction between soil and reinforcement. This coefficient is usually obtained by conducting either sliding shear test or pull-out test. It is not always possible for a field engineer to conduct pull–out tests to design a prototype-reinforced earth retaining structure. However, direct shear test facilities are generally available and sliding shear tests can be performed easily to obtain the value of friction coefficient ( µ). In this paper an attempt has been made to develop a correlation between coefficient of friction ( µ) obtained from sliding shear test and apparent coefficient of friction (f*) determined from pull-out test. Effect of overburden pressure and length of reinforcement has been incorporated. Effect of width of strips and strain rate on apparent coefficient of friction (f*) has also been studied. The effect of width of strip on apparent coefficient of friction (f*) is very small. Increase in values of apparent coefficient of friction (f*) was observed with increase in strain rate.