Reduction of lateral pressures on retaining walls using geofoam inclusion

AbdelSalam, Sherif S.; Azzam, Salem A.

doi:10.1680/jgein.16.00005

Cited by 60 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Researchers [30][31][32][33][34][35] have shown that the magnitude of the lateral loads on retaining walls can be reduced by installing a material of lower stiffness between the backfill soil and the wall structure, without increasing the wall stiffness. Partos and Kazaniwsky [30] reported a reduction in lateral earth pressure on a non-yielding basement wall by placing a prefabricated expanded polystyrene beaded drainage board between the wall and the granular backfill.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Role of Geofoam Properties in Reducing Lateral Loads on Retaining Walls: A Numerical Study

Khan

Meguid

2021

Sustainability

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Expanded polystyrene (EPS) geofoam is a lightweight compressible material that has been widely used in various civil engineering projects. One interesting application of EPS in geotechnical engineering is to reduce the lateral earth pressure on rigid non-yielding retaining walls. The compressible nature of the EPS geofoam allows for the shear strength of the backfill soil to be mobilized, which leads to a reduction in lateral earth pressure acting on the wall. In this study, a finite element model is developed and used to investigate the role of geofoam inclusion between a rigid retaining wall and the backfill material on the earth pressure transferred to the wall structure. The developed model was first calibrated using experimental data. Then, a parametric study was conducted to investigate the effect of EPS geofoam density, relative thickness with respect to the wall height, and the frictional angle of backfill soil on the effectiveness of this technique in reducing lateral earth pressure. Results showed that low-density EPS geofoam inclusion provides the best performance, particularly when coupled with backfill of low friction angle. The proposed modeling approach has shown to be efficient in solving this class of problems and can be used to model similar soil-geofoam-structure interaction problems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Role of Geofoam Properties in Reducing Lateral Loads on Retaining Walls: A Numerical Study

Khan

Meguid

2021

Sustainability

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“…Geofoams are rigid foams, obtained as a result of chemical reactions, with good mechanical characteristics and low density. Among these, expanded polystyrene (EPS) has been extensively studied for various applications (Ramli Sulong et al 2019), all of which involving its use in the form of slabs: in slope stabilisation (Jutkofsky et al 2000;Akai, 2016) , in the embankments (Avesani Neto and Rodrigues, 2021), in the earth retaining structures (Horvath, 1997;AbdelSalam and Azzam, 2016;Wang and Huang, 2021), and for the reduction of earth pressure in seismic conditions (Zarnani and Bathurst, 2007;Alzawi and El Naggar, 2011;Gao et al 2017) or as vibration dampers (Baziar et al 2019a;Jayawardana et al 2019) in the dynamic field. Baziar et al (2019b) show a recent application of EPS for the protection of shallow foundations from fault raptures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of the Polyurethane Foam Effects on Geotechnical Seismic Isolation

Gatto

Lentini

Montrasio

2021

Preprint

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The paper focuses on the detailed analysis of the dynamic characterisation of polyurethane to evaluate the effects of polyurethane injections into the soil with the aim of geotechnical seismic isolation (GSI). To determine the dynamic properties, resonant column (RC) tests were performed at the University Kore of Enna (Italy) on specimens of pure polyurethane (PUR) with different values of density and subjected to different mean confining pressures. The results obtained by means of RC tests, in terms of shear modulus G and the damping ratio D as a function of shear strain γc, allowed to develop an analytical formulation for G- γc and D- γc curves, taking into account the linear relationship with density of both the maximum value of shear modulus Gmax and the minimum value of damping ratio Dmin. The analytical formulation derived from the experimental results is applied for ground response seismic analyses of cohesive soils injected with polyurethane, using a finite element code. The numerical results show that the polyurethane injections reduce the value of maximum acceleration at ground surface and the reduction ranges with the thickness of the soil involved by polyurethane injection.

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“…In some early applications inclusions of this type were employed against static loads, 43,44 while more recently their use was extended to earthquake induced earth pressures against rigid walls 33,45–47 . Moreover, CIs allow for controlling displacements of the backfill which can be used in performance‐based design 48,49 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integral abutment bridges: Investigation of seismic soil‐structure interaction effects by shaking table testing

Fiorentino

Cengiz

Luca

et al. 2020

Earthq Engng Struct Dyn

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In recent years there has been renewed interest on integral abutment bridges (IABs), mainly due to their low construction and maintenance cost. Owing to the monolithic connection between deck and abutments, there is strong soil‐structure interaction between the bridge and the backfill under both thermal action and earthquake shaking. Although some of the regions where IABs are adopted qualify as highly seismic, there is limited knowledge as to their dynamic behaviour and vulnerability under strong ground shaking. To develop a better understanding on the seismic behaviour of IABs, an extensive experimental campaign involving over 75 shaking table tests and 4800 time histories of recorded data, was carried out at EQUALS Laboratory, University of Bristol, under the auspices of EU‐sponsored SERA project (Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe). The tests were conducted on a 5 m long shear stack mounted on a 3 m × 3 m 6‐DOF earthquake simulator, focusing on interaction effects between a scaled bridge model, abutments, foundation piles and backfill soil. The study aims at (a) developing new scaling procedures for physical modelling of IABs, (b) investigating experimentally the potential benefits of adding compressible inclusions (CIs) between the abutment and the backfill and (c) exploring the influence of different types of connection between the abutment and the pile foundation. Results indicate that the CI reduces the accelerations on the bridge deck and the settlements in the backfill, while disconnecting piles from the cap decreases bending near the pile head.

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Reduction of lateral pressures on retaining walls using geofoam inclusion

Cited by 60 publications

References 12 publications

Evaluating the Role of Geofoam Properties in Reducing Lateral Loads on Retaining Walls: A Numerical Study

Evaluating the Role of Geofoam Properties in Reducing Lateral Loads on Retaining Walls: A Numerical Study

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of the Polyurethane Foam Effects on Geotechnical Seismic Isolation

Integral abutment bridges: Investigation of seismic soil‐structure interaction effects by shaking table testing

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