CONTINUOUS PANEL REINFORCED SOIL WALLS ON RIGID FOUNDATIONS

The effects of reinforcement stiffness density, reinforcement/soil fri ction angle, facing/soil friction angle, backfill friction angle, and facing rigidity on the behavior of continuous panel faced reinforced s olid walls on a rigid foundation are examined. It is shown that the in teraction between the components of the reinforced system determines t he stress distribution in the soil and the manner in which the require d total resisting force is distributed in the reinforcement layers. Th is results in a force distribution in the connections and reinforcemen t that can depart significantly from what might be expected based on a triangular stress distribution. The validity of conventional approach es to estimating the vertical stress distribution is studied.