Abstract
The authors performed a series of pullout tests to elucidate the reinforcing mechanism of steel grid reinforced earth and to evaluate the bearing resistance mobilized on transverse members. The bearing resistance was major part of the total pullout resistance in the steel grid reinforced earth, which was equally mobilized on each transverse member in case of wider interval between transverse members than 200mm and increased in proportion to the number of transverse members. It is because longitudinal members of steel gird reinforcement hardly extended during pullout tests and all transverse members equally displaced. Considering the bearing resistance characteristics of steel grid reinforced earth, the authors proposed an equation to estimate the bearing resistance which was based on the bearing capacity theory. The applicability of the proposed equation was confirmed through the comparison between analytical and experimental test results for both frictional and cohesive-firictional backfill soils.
