Numerical modeling of reinforcement forces in geosynthetic reinforced soil slopes

Abstract

Reinforced soil slopes are widely used in civil engineering for slope protection for their vast advantages. The paper reports the details of numerical models used to predict the factors affecting force distribution in the reinforcement layers of reinforced slope-instrumented structures. However, the failure mechanism of reinforced slopes has not been fully studied. The stability analysis of reinforced slopes is conducted in this paper based on the limit equilibrium method. Furthermore, the effects of the target factor of safety and the soil friction angle of the reinforcement layers on the reinforcement force distribution are investigated. The research results indicate that the above parameters have great effects on the maximum reinforcement force and the reinforcement force distribution of the reinforced slope. Based on the analysis of computation results, the reinforcement mechanism is analyzed and the optimum design scheme of the reinforced slope is recommended. The results can be used as a guideline for the determination of the required reinforcement forces.