Vertical and Horizontal Stresses in Narrow Mechanically Stabilized Earth Retaining Walls

Abstract

Mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls have been increasingly used in civil
engineering applications, such as highways, bridge abutments, and service roads. In
certain areas, the width of the backfill for MSE wall construction is limited. According to
the literature, the mechanism of MSE walls constructed in narrow backfill width differs
from that with sufficient backfill width; hence the magnitude and distribution of stresses
in MSE walls with limited backfill width are different. This study presented the vertical
and horizontal stresses of two existing laboratory model tests of narrow mechanically
stabilized earth (MSE) walls subjected to strip loading. The stresses measured in
laboratory models were compared with calculated stresses using analytical methods (i.e.,
the 2 (H): 1(V) stress distribution, AASHTO, and Jansen’s earth coefficient). In addition,
this study modified the 2:1 stress distribution method (TSD) by considering wall-soil
friction effects to calculate the stress distribution in narrow MSE walls under static
footing loading, and presented it as a new proposed method. Accuracy and improvement
of the modified TSD method were assessed with the existing experimental test results and
compared with various existing theoretical methods. The results of the calculations
indicated that the proposed method well predicts the distribution of vertical and
horizontal stresses in narrow MSW walls.