Performance of Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Wall and Reinforced Earth Wall Subject to Blast Loading: Experimental and Numerical Study - Reinforced Soil Engineering: Advances in Research and Practice - page 351

A geosynthetics reinforced soil (RS) wall and a Reinforced Earth w (RE)
wall with precast concrete facings were constructed and subjected to
multiple blasts, and their extent of damage was recorded and studied. After a
series of blasts, the concrete facings of the front of the RE wall collapsed
and the soil mass slid out and down the front. There were obvious pullout
failures of the metal reinforcement strips as well as tension failure at the
joints of the panel facings and reinforcements. However, the geosynthetics
facing of the RS wall only suffered superficial damage due to high
temperature and direct fragment impact. Comparing the failure modes of RS
and RE walls,

it was obvious that flexible facing units such as the

geosynthetics wrap around type of facing can be effectively used for

protective blast-resistant soil structures.
Evidence of the good performance of the RS wall also obtained from the
dynamic earth pressure measurements made in the reinforced soil mass,
clearly showing the very high efficiency of blast energy dissipation from the
rapid decay and large reductions of earth pressures measured in the wall.
Pressure reductions of more than 90% were achieved when comparing peak
dynamic lateral earth pressures measured at 0.5m and 3.5m from the blasted
front of the wall.
A numerical simulation of the blast event of the RS wall was made
using the dynamic module of PLAXIS version 7.2. The various soil
parameters' influence on wall performance were investigated by comparing
FEM calculations with the measured earth pressures in the wall. Some
preliminary recommendations were made for suitable selection of soil
dynamic parameters for good simulation of the RS wall subjected to blast
loadings. With an appropriate choice of parameters, the observed field
response of the RS wall was successfully simulated with dynamic FEM, and
the pressure dissipation calculated in the dynamic FEM analysis matched
well with the field measurements for two blast events.

1 INTRODUCTION

Reinforced soil structures are often used in military and civilian applications
to protect personnel and property from accidental detonation of stored
explosives, munitions, and ammunition plants. The advantages of reinforced
soil structures lie in their cost-effectiveness, rapid construction, and minimal
use of occupied ground area and high tolerance of differential settlements.
They are able to impede the propagation of an explosive blast at ground level
and absorb high levels of energy due to their high tolerance for

large

deformation before collapse. However, the dynamic response of these