| dc.description.abstract | A full-scale test embankment (6 m height) constructed by Department of Highways, the Bureau of Road Research and Development in Phitsanulok, Thailand was simulated using FEM 2D. A surcharge fill of 1.2 m thick without reinforcements was added at the top of the embankment equivalent to 2 tsm of load. One side of this embankment was reinforced with polymeric reinforcements consisting polyester (PET), polypropylene (PP) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) and referred as reinforced steep slope (RSS), which is at an angle of 70 degrees from horizontal. The other side of the embankment was reinforced with metallic reinforcements consisting of metallic strips (MS) and steel wire grids (SWG) combined with precast concrete panel and termed as mechanically stabilized earth wall (MSEW). The objective was to compare the effectiveness of different types of polymeric and metallic reinforcements in terms of the behaviour of the embankment and the reliability of the finite element method (FEM 2D) to analyse the behaviour of the embankment. The simulated results were compared with measured data. The results obtained from FEM 2D have good agreement with the field measurements in terms of vertical and lateral deformations of the embankment at the MSEW side. However, there were discrepancies between measured data and FEM 2D simulations at the RSS side due to its limitations. The FEM 2D simulation overpredicted the vertical settlements in the foundation which affected the prediction of the lateral displacements. | en_US |
