Reinforced earth retaining walls by FEM based on visco-elasto-plasticity

In order to study the security evaluation and reinforcement option of reinforced bank-protection works on Binjiang road in Yuzhong district of Chongqing,a numerical procedure based on the finite element methods for analysis of behavior of deformations and stresses of reinforced earth structures was presented.In the proposed method,the nonlinear creep behavior of both backfill and geosynthetics used for reinforcements was taken into account by using the rheological models of visco-elasto-plasticity and nonlinear visco-elasticity respectively.Additionally,the interaction effects between the reinforcement and the backfill,the panel and the backfill as well as the panel and the panel were rationally considered.The layer-by-layer filling process of backfill of retaining wall was also simulated.Comparing with the conventional calculation methods and the field measured data,the effectiveness of the method was provend tentatively.Meanwhile,the failure mode,the distribution of tensile stress in reinforcing materials and the safety index in high reinforced retaining walls were obtained.