SIMPLIFIED ANALYSIS OF LONG-SPAN SOIL-METAL STRUCTURES

To analyze and design long-span soil-metal structures and other struct ures involving soil or reinforced soil, it is important to estimate ac curately the soil properties. Triaxial tests are carried out on reinfo rced as well as unreinforced Lake Erie sand specimens. A hyperbolic st ress-strain relation is proposed to represent the soil elastic propert ies. Expressions are deduced to evaluate the modulus of elasticity of the soil as well as the coefficient of soil reaction that is required for the proper design of soil-metal structures. The proposed expressio ns are valid for both reinforced and unreinforced soils. A simplified finite-element model is presented for the analysis of long-span unrein forced and reinforced soil-metal structures. Results from the simplifi ed model are compared to those from a plane-strain finite-element anal ysis. The results are also verified using results obtained from tests carried out on reduced-scale models.