Stability of inclined strip anchors in purely cohesive soil

Soil anchors are commonly used as foundation systems for structures requiring uplift resistance such as transmission towers, or for structures requiring lateral resistance, such as sheet pile walls. To date, most anchor studies have been concerned with either the vertical or horizontal uplift problem. In many instances, anchors are placed at inclined orientations depending on the type of application and loading (e.g., transmission tower foundations). However, the important effect of anchor inclination has received very little attention by researchers. This paper applies numerical limit analysis and displacement finite-element analysis to evaluate the stability of inclined strip anchors in undrained clay. Results are presented in the familiar form of breakout factors based on various anchor geometries.