Experimental and Numerical Investigations of Reinforced Soil Wall Subjected to Impact Loading

Reinforced soil wall has proved to have excellent impact resistance in engineering, but less attention has paid to their failure process and dynamic response subjected to impact loading. The authors performed model tests and numerical simulations of reinforced soil walls with and without cushion under differential impact loading. The deformation, failure process and impact stress of three retaining walls were mainly analyzed, and the influence mechanism of geosynthetic and cushion on the impact performance of retaining wall were discussed qualitatively. The results showed that the impact deformation of reinforced soil wall with cushion was mainly concentrated on the cushion. The failure process of retaining wall could be divided into two stages: the soil around the impact point of retaining wall was compacted (stage I), a sliding surface formed in retaining wall gradually and retaining wall would failure (stage II). Geosynthetics benefited the sliding surface move back and cushion improved the impact resistance of retaining wall. Furthermore, stress absorption of geosynthetic and cushion was confirmed. The absorption rate of geosynthetic was related to the impact energy positively. The absorption rate of cushion was related to the impact energy positively and related to the thickness of cushion negatively. Engineers can consider the impact energy and the absorption rate of geosynthetic and cushion to design reinforced soil wall with cushion under impact loading.