Lateral facing deflections of geosynthetic-reinforced retaining walls under footing loading

Geosynthetic-reinforced retaining (GRR) walls have been used to support spread footings constructed directly on the reinforced soil mass. This technology eliminates the need for traditional deep foundations, such as piles, to support bridges or buildings. Lateral facing deflection induced by footing loading is one of the key parameters that should be considered for design of GRR walls to support footings. However, there is no well-accepted method available to predict the deflections of GRR walls constructed with flexible facing, especially under footing loading. The objective of this study was to develop a method to estimate the facing lateral deflections of GRR walls under footing loading. To fulfill the above objective, the effect of footing loading on stability of 68 GRR walls (171 loading steps) with wrap-around and modular block facing was investigated. The limit equilibrium method (i.e., the modified Bishop method) was used to calculate the factors of safety of these walls. The calculated and measured results indicated that the GRR walls subjected to footing loading with lower factors of safety had larger lateral facing deflections than those with higher factors of safety. Based on this finding, a data analysis was conducted to establish an exponential relationship between the calculated factor of safety using the modified Bishop method and the maximum lateral facing deflection of the GRR walls under footing loading.

Automated summary

The study aimed to develop a method to estimate the facing lateral deflections of GRR walls under footing loading, with results indicating that walls with lower factors of safety had larger lateral facing deflections.