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Effect of EPS Geofoam on Lateral Earth Pressure Reduction—A Numerical Study
Journal
Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering
ISSN
23662557
Date Issued
2022-01-01
Author(s)
Burugupelly, Neeraj Kumar
Dasaka, Satyanarayana Murty
Abstract
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) geofoam can be used to reduce the lateral thrust on the rigid retaining wall structures. This technique involves providing a layer of geofoam blocks of required dimensions and stiffness between the wall face and the backfill soil. In the present study, finite element numerical program, PLAXIS 2D, was used to carry out parametric study to investigate the influence of height of retaining wall, density and thickness of geofoam on the extent of lateral thrust reduction. Mohr–Coulomb constitutive law was used to model cohesionless backfill material and EPS compressible inclusion. The required material parameters were obtained from the laboratory testing. Modified direct shear tests were carried out to measure shear strength and interface properties of geofoam-concrete, geofoam-sand and concrete-sand interfaces. The model results were validated using the results of small-scale physical model tests from published literature. Analysis was carried out considering different combinations consisting of 5 different wall heights, 4 different densities and 5 different thicknesses of EPS geofoam. The total lateral earth force on the wall and isolation efficiency were computed to evaluate the influence of these parameters on earth pressure reduction. The results clearly show that use of EPS geofoam significantly reduces lateral thrust on the retaining walls, and can substantially bring cost saving in the project.
Volume
186
Subjects