2D and 3D numerical study of geosynthetic mechanically stabilized earth GMSE walls

Numerical modeling in geotechnical engineering has generally proved feasible when analyzing the behavior and performance of reinforced soil structures, due to their low cost, versatility, and practicality with respect to physical models. One of the most significant challenges in this process is the choice of appropriate models and parameters that are accurate in describing reality. This study presents numerical modeling analyzes of a Geosynthetic Mechanically Stabilized (GMSE) wall built, instrumented and monitored in laboratory by Hatami & Bathurst (2005). The numerical modeling was carried out in 2D and 3D using the finite element method (FEM). The behavior of the soil was represented by the Linear Elastic Perfectly Plastic (Mohr Coulomb) and Elastic Hyperbolic (Duncan Chang) constitutive models. The geosynthetics and facing elements behaviors were represented by the Linear Elastic constitutive model. In these analyzes, the construction stages and the subsequent wall loads were taken into account. The objective of this study was to validate the model parameters in such way the assessed face displacements, foundation stresses, reinforcement strains were close to those corresponding the instrumented wall. This validation was performed through the comparison of model results with measured values. With the found It was obtained a good agreement between numerical modeling and physical test results in soil structures reinforced with geosynthetics.