Prediction on lateral deformation of GRS walls using a creep-temperature coupled constitutive model of geosynthetics

Abstract

Rational estimation of lateral facing deformation (δ) is the key to accurate internal stability design of geosynthetic-reinforced soil (GRS) retaining walls. This paper collected 252 groups of creep data from one polypropylene geogrid tested in this study using creep tests and from other 53 various geosynthetics available in existing literature. The purpose was to establish a comprehensive database that spans a wide range of load (P) and temperature (T) levels. The established database was employed to analyze the relationships of reinforcement strain (ε) with P, T, and time (t). The analysis results show that ε varies with P and t in a power function but follows T in an exponential function. Based on this, a creep-temperature coupled constitutive model of geosynthetics was developed to describe the ε-P–t-T relationship. Then, a prediction method for δ was proposed using the developed model and finite difference method. Performance validation and comparison were performed on the proposed method and six other prediction methods. Several limitations regarding the developed model were finally discussed for broadening the application of the proposed method.