Numerical Analysis of Closer Back-to-Back Reinforced Soil Walls: Effect of Reinforcement Arrangement

Back-to-Back Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls (BBMSEWs) are a frequently form of retaining walls with complex geometry and widely used in numerous geotechnical constructions especially in the bridge approaches. Current design guidelines for BBMSEWs are limited where the Federal Highway Administration recommendations provide a concise overview of the design of this structure. In this paper, the assessment of connected and unconnected closer BBMSEWs under applied static loads was numerically investigated by using two-dimensional finite element analysis. This study deal with the influence of the reinforcement layers and applied static surcharge loads on the behavior of BBMSEWs by analyzing four numerical models of walls with different arrangement of geosynthetic reinforcement under various charge intensity. For the comparison, the factor of safety and the horizontal wall displacement were preferred for external stability, while the maximum tensile load in reinforcement was selected to evaluate internal stability of walls. The most important findings indicate that the arrangement of reinforcement significantly influences the response of BBMSEWs.