FEM Analysis of Back-to-Back Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Retaining Walls

Reinforced soil retaining walls with two opposite sides (back-to-back) are commonly used for embankments approaching bridges. This type of walls has complex geometry. The distance between two opposing walls is a key parameter used for determining the analysis methods in the federal highways administration guidelines. The objective of this research is to study under static conditions, the effect of the distance between the two back-to-back geosynthetic-reinforced soil retaining walls of embankment approaching bridges on the internal and external stability. Finite element method incorporated in the Plaxis software and analytical methods were used for this research. Parametric studies were carried out by varying the distance between side walls, to investigate their effects on the critical failure surface, the lateral earth pressure behind the reinforced zone, the wall displacement and on the required tensile strength of reinforcement. © 2016, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.