Mechanical behaviour of reinforced earth retaining walls

Abstract

Stabilization of the slopes by the technique of reinforcedearth (Terre Armée) is a very concurrent technique(economical and reliable). Based on the results oftheoretical and experimental studies, we propose in thispaper to check the overall internal stability of reinforcedearth retaining walls by three mechanical models, using theanalytical method of the limit equilibrium (failure). Themain objective of this paper is to compare these failuremechanical models with the failure models obtained bynumerical analysis (code FLAC2d), in order to validate themost realistic and more unfavourable failure models. Parametricand comparative studies carried out have allowedus to bring a very useful knowledge concerning the studyof internal stability of the reinforced earth retaining wallsand to propose a theoretical mechanical model of calculationproven by numerical simulation and confirmed bytests.